Dragon Wars
by Mieren
Summary: Third story of the set, originally a trilogy. Follows Midnight Shadows and Obsidian Fires. Complete! To be continued in Outlands, already begun...
1. Part 1

Dragon Wars

Continuation of Obsidian Fires

By Mieren

Mia smiled fondly at Ryo's back, a contented expression settling on her face.  With a soft sigh, she turned back to the meal she was cooking, struggling not to grin too widely at the memories.  Even knowing how shy Ryo was, it was unbelievable that it had taken him over eight years to propose.  Eight years!  If that hadn't been bad enough, their honeymoon certainly was.  Shy was an understatement in his case.

She grinned wider suddenly when she glanced at her watch.  The others would be arriving any time now.  She was nearly dancing where she stood in anticipation of seeing them again.  It had been so long, almost twenty years now.  It was hard to believe that they had all drifted apart so quickly after having returned from Mieren's dimension.  She was glad to get the Warlords out of the house, naturally, but she had objected to the guys leaving.  Sage and Kento said that they had to go home to their families.  They called occasionally, but they had never had the time to stop by.  Rowen had moved out with Mieren and Touma, getting his own place and starting a life of his own.  The last she had heard, he was working as an electrical engineer somewhere.  Mieren had gotten a job teaching martial arts and self-defense, and was doing quite well in the way of collecting students.  Being orphans, Ryo and Cye had remained with her.  Seeing that things were getting somewhat serious between her and Ryo, Cye had left as well despite her numerous offers for him to stay.

From what she understood, Kayura had spoken to Mieren once they had all moved out, getting her to lift the agelessness placed upon her by Talpa that prevented her from growing old.  At four hundred and fifty, she had grown a bit peeved at still having the body of a fourteen-year-old.  Mieren had lifted the immortality for seven years before replacing it for the most part, altering her aging so that it would match Sage's.  That thought brought a wider smile to her face.  Sage and Kayura had gotten married shortly after Mieren had replaced the shield around her.  She wondered briefly if they had any children yet.  That took her to another line of thought.

The best she understood matters, Touma had vanished on his eighteenth birthday and hadn't returned or been seen by either of his parents for the last two years.  He occasionally called his parents, telling them that he was still all right and enjoying touring the world.  He had last called them less than a month ago, and Rowen had told him about the party coming up at her place.  Mia grinned even wider.  He had said that he would arrange his travels so that he would be in the area and could drop by.

A knock at the door had both her and Ryo scrambling to get there first, pushing each other playfully out of the way as they ran.  Mia casually stuck out her foot and sent him careening into the ground face first with an indignant yelp.  She opened the door casually, grinning at him over her shoulder.

"Cye!" she called out happily, sweeping him into a bear hug, ignoring his soft chuckle as he peeked over her shoulder to see Ryo picking himself off of the floor.

"Did I come at a bad time?" he asked slyly, eyes sparkling when she released him.

Mia snorted softly.  "You're getting as bad as Dais," she reprimanded softly.

Ryo snorted loudly and ambled over to the door, making a face.  "Damn, Cye.  You suck!" he growled, exchanging a few playful blows.  "You still look like you're twenty.  That is NOT fair."

Cye smiled innocently and made a point of straightening his clothes, flipping his longish ponytail over his shoulder so he could straighten his jacket.  He then looked up and began studying Ryo carefully, a smirk appearing on his face.

"You cut your hair," he stated simply, reaching forward to flip a raven lock out of his friend's tiger blue eyes.

"He looks better with it short," Mia called over her shoulder as she trotted back to the kitchen to check on a few things.

"And you were saying something about Rowen being whipped?" Cye asked softly, eyes gleaming mischievously.

"What was that, Cye old buddy?" Ryo asked sweetly, cracking his knuckles loudly.  Cye chuckled and prepared to respond when someone pounded loudly on the door, nearly unhinging it.  A reprimanding voice arose from the other side.

Ryo opened the door slowly, bursting into laughter when he saw who was on the other side.  "Come in, Sage," he hooted, eyes watering.  Cye grinned widely when he saw what Ryo was looking at, struggling not to chuckle at the sight that met his eyes.

Kayura was griping at Sage for nearly taking the door off of the hinges while he ducked his head, occasionally murmuring 'yes, Kayura' and 'no, Kayura,' in a soft, submissive manner.  His hair flopped over half of his face when he began nodding in time to murmuring 'yes, Kayura' to the infinite amusement of Cye and Ryo.

Kayura herself nearly had Cye gaping.  Fully grown, she had the appearance of a woman in her mid-twenties, her beyond perfect figure making Cye's eyes bulge.  He noted wryly that Ryo was almost drooling.

Finished with her tirade, she clapped both Ryo and Cye on the shoulders before calling out to find Mia.  She vanished into the kitchen immediately upon receiving a response.  Laughing too hard to speak, Ryo waved Sage in, eyes streaming.  Sage threw him a glare daring him to say anything before looking over his shoulder.

"Come on," he called out softly.  "They're not going to eat you.  I told you to be careful of Uncle Kento, and he's not here yet."

Cye's jaw contacted his chest when a little black-haired girl with dark blue eyes, around eleven years old, wandered over towards Sage shyly, staying fully behind him except to peek around occasionally in wide-eyed fascination.

"Uncle Cye?  Uncle Ryo?" she asked shyly, chewing on her lower lip.  Cye nodded numbly and looked at Sage demandingly.

"I showed her a group photo we took before scattering," he said simply.

Cye shook his head.  "I did not know that you had a kid."

Sage didn't respond, peering over at his shoulder amusedly.  "Come on, I said.  They don't bite."

Cye and Ryo received their second shock in so many minutes when a blond nine-year-old boy edged over towards them fearfully, crystal blue eyes nearly bulging out of his head.  He smiled shyly and tilted his head minimally, causing a lock of blond hair to fall over one eye.  He pushed it behind his ear, making a face when it stubbornly fell back into place over his eye.

"Ella and Gau," he said simply, throwing them a fatherly smile.

Shaking his head slowly, Cye moved back and waved Sage in.  Ryo was too busy laughing to breathe properly, let alone speak.  He sobered up immediately when he heard a single word that nearly sent both Sage and Cye into convulsions.

"Daddy?"

Laughing softly and prodding each other in the ribs, Sage and Cye turned as one to see an eight-year-old girl come into the room atop an enormous amber-eyed leopard, a puffy white kitten curled up in her arms.

"Yes, Nasuti?" he asked gently as he plucked her off of the great cat, Chimera.  She smiled at him shyly before peering around with bright blue eyes from under delicate waves of brunette hair.  She squirmed slightly until he put her down, instantly running over to Ella and snagging her wrist.  She tugged the older girl towards the stairs, urging her to come see the litter of kittens.

"Am I the only bachelor?" Cye cried out irately.

"Probably," Mieren teased as she walked past.  "Even White Blaze got laid, it would appear."

Rowen thumped him as he walked by.  "You left the door open."

Cye peered over at him good-naturedly, carefully noting his friend's left arm.  A thin cloth sleeve ran across the back of his hand and up his arm, disappearing into his shirt.  A thin strip of fabric ran beneath his middle and ring finger to hold the thing in place.  A second strip circled his thumb to make absolutely sure that the cloth didn't bunch, which was perfectly understandable considering the streaks of obsidian decorating his arm as a reminder of a battle that he had barely won twenty years ago.

"If it makes you feel any better, the Warlords are still single too," Mieren called over her shoulder as she headed unerringly for the kitchen, snapping him out of his musings.  "They can't seem to get the dating thing down right."

"What about Kento?" Sage asked carefully.

Cye's expression darkened immediately.  _Listen up, guys,_ he said sharply, purposely using telepathy so that the children couldn't hear.  _You are not to say anything to Kento on that subject.  I've spoken with him.  Hell, I had to live at his house for awhile after it happened until he recovered from the shock.  He was married to a woman named Cowry._

_What do you mean 'was'?_ Sage interjected sharply.

_As I was saying, she died in a car accident almost ten years ago.  And just so you won't be surprised, he has a son._

_Why are you telling us this?_ Ryo snapped.

_I didn't want you to go asking about the mother when he showed up._

_Thank you for warning us,_ Mieren sent from the kitchen, immediately backed by both Mia and Kayura.

"That's a good thing to know," Dais murmured as he slowly walked in, he and Sehkmet engaging in a ribbing contest for a moment.  Cale and Anubis were arguing softly from behind them.  From the best that Ryo could tell, they were trying to decide which of them was the worst at driving.

"Dad," Gau called out softly as he hid behind Sage suddenly, eyes wide.  "Isn't that the other one who you said might eat us?" he asked innocently, pointing out Sehkmet.  The former Warlord made a face.

"Why did you tell him that?"

"It's true, isn't it?" Sage asked, fighting to keep a straight face.  Trust Gau to break the tension in the room with such a ridiculous question.  The blond boy tugged demandingly on his shirt.

"Then where's Uncle Kento?"

"He's coming," Sage said evilly, his one visible eye sparkling with humor.

"Uncle Anubis and Uncle Cale will protect us, won't they?"

"Uncle?" Anubis asked, tearing himself away from his argument with Cale.  "Don't you think I look a bit young to be your uncle?" he asked, grinning widely.

Gau shook his head firmly.  "Dad said that you were around to see the beginning of the world."

"He did, did he?" Cale asked, making a face.

Gau nodded shyly.  "He said that you were around in the days when Warlords hunted dinosaurs in wild packs."

"Really?" Dais drawled, cracking his knuckles loudly.

The blond head nodded again.  "Does that make you a caveman?" he asked softly, looking directly at Sehkmet, who in turn looked over at Sage.

"I… uh… have to go," Sage called out over his shoulder as he darted for the stairs, four Warlords on his heels.

"This is going to be an interesting day," Ryo muttered.  Cye nodded numbly.

"The door is open, you know," Kento growled at them as he walked in, arms folded across his chest.  A lanky looking teenager followed him, looking kind of lost.  He shut the door gently with the heel of one foot, looking around curiously with pale gray eyes that were all but hidden from beneath a darker mop of unruly gray hair.

"Hi Uncle Cye," he called out softly, an amused smirk appearing on his face as he looked around.  "Why are those guys trying to kill him?" he asked, jerking his head towards Sage as he sprinted by with the four Warlords closing in.

"He called them old and ugly," Cye responded simply.  Dais skidded to a stop to make a face at him.

"I don't recall the ugly part," he grumped.  He blinked when he finally saw the lanky boy looking directly at him with an amused expression.  "Didn't see you," he murmured.

Kento laughed softly and swatted the boy on the back, forcing him to take a step forward.  "This is Akira."  Dais shook his hand with a strange expression on his face.

"How old is he?" Ryo asked curiously.

"He won't ever give you a straight answer if you ask him anything," Kento smirked before Akira could open his mouth.  "He's fourteen."

Gau didn't waste any time now that his sister was occupied and his father was gone for the moment, darting forward and snagging the older boy's wrist.  Akira blinked in shock and peered down at the blond boy clinging to him tenaciously before looking at his father uncertainly.  Kento shrugged.

"You up for babysitting?"

Akira shrugged massively.  "Depends.  Can I teach him how to fight?"

Sage immediately skidded to a halt in front of the group congregating by the door, a strange expression painting his face when the Warlords caught up with him.  He looked over his shoulder at them, smirking widely.

"Old and slow," he taunted, eyes shining.  "Now," he murmured, turning to Akira.  "You can teach him all you want, but be careful not to hurt him.  Okay?  You are a bit bigger than he is, after all."

Akira nodded, arching one eyebrow.  "I wouldn't hurt him."  Sage nodded.

"Just don't let Kayura see you," he said softly.  Akira nodded and wandered in the direction of the back door.

"Am I missing something here?" Kento asked slowly.  Cye grinned.

"Sage is more whipped than Rowen and Ryo combined," he chortled, jumping back to start dodging blows immediately.  Kento chuckled softly and shook his head.

"Figures."

"I'll have you know," Sage grumped, "that Kayura's three months pregnant and I'm not about to upset her for any reason."

Dead silence greeted this announcement for the moment that it took to sink in.  Congratulations hidden well within howling laughter followed.

"Speaking of Satan-spawned offspring, when is Touma showing up?" Ryo asked suddenly, trying to change the subject before Rowen and Cye creamed each other.  Rowen glanced over his shoulder and shrugged.

"No idea.  He's never on time for anything."

As if to prove him wrong, someone pounded on the door roughly, causing resounding thuds to echo through the house.  Ryo and Rowen immediately moved over to the front door.

Ryo pulled the door open suddenly to reveal a tall, lanky, twenty-year-old Touma grinning at him happily.  A single lock of blue hair fell stubbornly between his silver eyes even when he brushed it out of the way roughly.

"Daddy!" he wailed out in a deep baritone, batting his eyes and grinning like an idiot.  Rowen groaned.

"I forgot to warn you guys," he called over his shoulder.  "My son is a wise-ass."

"And this differs from you how?" Sage smirked, poking his friend in the ribs.

"He's got it right, Dad," Touma snickered, eyes shining.  He sobered up immediately and began looking at the ground dejectedly.

"What's wrong?" Ryo asked carefully when Rowen only paled.

"There's something that I need to tell you guys," he whispered, blinking back tears and gnawing his lower lip.

"What?" Rowen prompted, growing concerned.

"I've signed my own death certificate," he whimpered.  He peeked up at their worried faces, his lips beginning to twitch.  "I got married!" he announced joyously, holding out one arm behind him.  A slender woman with reddish brown hair and stunning teal eyes walked up and looped one arm around him, grinning widely.

"Hi," she greeted amiably.  "I'm Mana."

It took Rowen and the guys a few seconds to realize that she was holding a baby in her other arm.  Cye was the first to recover, moving forward smoothly to gently lift the baby out of her arms so he could hold it.  He smiled warmly when the infant looked up at him with bright aqua colored eyes, cooing and squealing delightedly, quickly disarraying his russet locks.

"He looks just like you," Cye murmured, looking up to where Touma and Mana were still poking fun at the others for believing Touma's little performance.

"No way," Kento called out happily, poking Cye in the ribs.  "He looks just like you, man."  Cye only rolled his eyes at his friend's comment.

Mana looked over at him amusedly.  "His name is Cye," she said proudly.

Cye jerked.  "I'm sorry.  What was that?"

Grimacing contritely, she looked over at him and bit her lips.  "Touma told me there was already a Cye here.  I named him after my grandfather, though.  Hope you don't mind."

Smiling somewhat unsteadily, Cye shook his head.  "That's fine by me," he said lightly, saying something almost inaudible about coincidences that no one could quite make out.  It didn't help any when he began grumbling in another language.

"You still spouting that nonsense?" Kento asked slowly, poking him meaningfully in the ribs a little more roughly than was absolutely necessary.  Cye opened his mouth to respond when Mana cut him off.

"That sounds kind of familiar," she murmured, expression turning thoughtful.  "But I can't seem to remember where I've heard it before.  Do you know, Touma?"

Touma shrugged massively.  "He wasn't saying anything I'm going to repeat."

Everyone except Rowen jerked in shock.  Cale's expression darkened.  "You could have told us that you were teaching him that, Rowen," he growled, eyes flashing.

"Bite me."

"Isn't that Mom's job?" Touma asked slyly, beating Sage and Dais by a heartbeat.  Sage grinned and clapped him on the shoulder.  Dais only smiled and pretended to flick a tear from his one remaining eye, sniffing loudly.  Rowen made a face.

Mana laughed softly, causing Cye to snap to attention, peering over at her with a strange expression on his face.  He looked lost and slightly pained.  Cale waved one hand in front of his face, opening his mouth to ask him if he were all right.  Mia happened to push open the door to the kitchen at that exact moment, calling out loudly that dinner was ready.

"Go find Ella and Gau," Kayura called out, sending Sage immediately trotting for the stairs.  Ryo rolled his eyes and followed him to retrieve his own daughter.

"Guess that means I have to track down my spawn too," Kento said cheerily, turning to head out the back.  Surprisingly, Sehkmet was the first to turn and follow him.  Blinking in shock, Dais automatically spun to trail his best friend.  Anubis and Cale headed for the kitchen after casting curious looks in Cye's direction, quickly resuming their previous argument of who was the worst driver in the group.  It sounded like they had it down between Sehkmet and Mieren, the former being an idiot and the latter acting insane just for the fun of it.

Snapping out of his reverie, Cye handed his namesake back to Mana and led her and Touma in the direction of the kitchen.  Peering out the window leading to the field behind the house, he couldn't help but chuckle softly.  Akira had apparently convinced Gau that it would be fun to see how long they could outrun Kento, and from the looks of things, they were succeeding.  He excused himself and wandered outside to see if he could help matters, immediately pushing Kento over and urging the kids to get to the table before the Twinkie-snorting mammoth made it to the food.  Gau took the statement literally and bolted towards the kitchen.  Akira only laughed uproariously before following him, tears streaming from his eyes as he loudly called out Cye's comment to the others.

*     *     *

Rowen allowed his gaze to roam around the table slowly, purposely memorizing the faces of each of his friends, not sure when he would see them again.  Their own lives had drawn them all apart and kept them congregating despite their efforts.  He smiled sadly.  As glad as he was that the chaos following their lives had finally abated, he missed the way it brought them all together.  He sighed and turned his attention back to the conversation at hand.

So far, they had been discussing everyone's jobs and lives up to this point.  Kento had evaded most of the questions, simply saying that he worked for a construction company in north Japan.  Cye had somehow acquired a manager's position supervising the care of the aquatic life in every theme park throughout Japan and was always traveling.  From the best he understood, Sage was now a photographer for a modeling agency, much to Kayura's irritation.  Surprisingly, Ryo taught at a nearby university along with Mia, both of them specializing in history, ancient legends and myths.  Sehkmet, Dais, Cale and Anubis had announced that they now ran a multitude of martial arts classes.  Rowen had told them only a moment ago about working as an electrical engineer while Mieren was employed similarly as the Warlords.  Touma had smirked at his announcement, saying that he paused at large companies as he passed through an area, repairing their computer systems for a hefty income before continuing with his travels.

Akira had been watching them talk with a slightly amused expression painting his face, his eyes beginning to sparkle with wry amusement.

"You're telling me that you four," he mumbled, pointing out the former Warlords, "know how to fight?"

"You don't believe it?" Dais asked slyly, cracking his knuckles sinisterly.

Akira shook his head firmly.  "No way.  I could cream any one of you old farts."

"Now, now," Anubis said sweetly.  "Do I look like an old fart?"

Thinking carefully, Akira nodded happily.  "You bet.  Uncle Cye doesn't seem to age very quickly.  If he looks like he's around twenty and he's actually fifty…"

"Hey!  I'm only thirty-seven!"

"Then you could easily be the same age or older," he concluded smugly.  "Besides," Akira continued happily.  "He told me that you're all around five hundred."

"How in the hell can Kento's kid be smart?" Ryo asked slowly.

"Or thin?" Sehkmet tacked on for good measure.

"Shut up," Kento growled.

"Returning to the issue of creaming the old farts," Dais said slowly, eye shining mischievously as he regarded the younger boy.  "How would you like to back that up?"

Akira blinked and looked to Kento curiously, who shrugged and nodded.

"Not in the house," Mia snapped.  Ryo chuckled softly.

Obediently, Akira rose to his feet and headed for the back door, shooting a superior look at Dais over his shoulder as he walked.

"Is that a good idea?" Mana asked slowly, eyeing Dais as he hopped out of his chair eagerly to follow the younger boy.

"He's fine," Kento chuckled, rising leisurely out of his chair to watch the ensuing chaos his son was about to initiate.  Curious expressions passed around the table along with several resigned shrugs before the others got up to follow him.

Pushing out the back door, they were awarded with a sight of Dais chasing Akira around the yard while he laughed uproariously, calling out the phrase 'old and slow' loudly enough to be heard by everyone.  Kento shook his head slowly.

"Try not to hurt him, Akira," he cried out happily when his son shifted tactics and turned his retreat into a low, spinning kick that deprived Dais of his balance and left him sprawled unceremoniously across the ground.

Dais growled in the back of his throat and jumped to his feet, abandoning tactic to tackle the younger boy prancing in front of him on the balls of his feet.  Akira snagged the front of his shirt and rolled onto his back, planting one foot in the former Warlord's stomach and sending him flying.  Laughter erupted from the Ronins and Warlords when he landed fully on his back, loosing all of the air in his lungs.

Using the momentum of his opponent's last attack, Akira rolled back to his feet while Dais was still flying through the air.  He walked over closer to the fallen man and offered him a hand to his feet, grinning happily.

Having regained his feet, Dais refused to relinquish his hold on the younger boy, instead yanking him closer and lifting him roughly over his head, strutting around the yard with his trophy.

"You're supposed to kick him in the ribs while he's down, not help him up," Touma called out loudly, an amused twinkle in his silver eyes.

"Gee, thanks," Akira grumbled, wobbling slightly as he peered down at the white-haired man holding him.  Making a face, he hooked one leg around one of the well-muscled arms holding him and ripped it free from him.  This action, predictably, resulted in him being dropped.  Spinning in his fall, he used the head below him as a springboard and launched himself clear before any retaliatory actions could take place.

Landing lightly on the balls of his feet, Akira abruptly reversed direction and slammed fully into the Warlord, rolling clear of the older man after snagging twin fistfuls of his shirt.  Completing his roll, he swung the Warlord above him and deposited him on his back for the second time in so many minutes.  Smiling innocently, he rose leisurely to his feet and made a point of brushing the dust off of his clothes.

"Give up yet, Uncle Dais?"

"Oh… man… you suck," Dais gasped out, blinking groggily up at the victor of the miniature war.

Laughing, Akira pulled him to his feet again and led the group back into the house, raiding the food yet again as he passed by to the infinite amusement of the others.

*     *     *

A set of crimson eyes narrowed angrily when the group turned to go back inside to their meals.  Unbelievable.  It could almost understand the carelessness of the humans and lesser demons, but for Mieren to be so blind to the presence of power…

Hissing softly, dangerously, the red-eyed shadow moved back further into the trees and settled down easily.  Waiting.

*     *     *

Conversation quickly resumed once the group reached the dinner table and continued with their meals.  Several cracks rose centering on how badly Dais, supposedly a master of martial arts, was just beaten by a fourteen-year-old boy.

"Your father must have trained you well," Mana murmured, ruffling the gray mop of hair topping the youth sitting beside her.  Akira grinned bashfully.

"That can't be it," Dais scoffed, sitting gingerly in his chair.  "Kento can't fight worth a piss."

"Care to back that up?"

"Not at the moment."

Rowen chuckled softly, glancing over to Touma where he continued to poke fun at the Warlord.  Sighing softly, he pushed that irritating blue lock of hair out of his sapphire eyes and began massaging his temples gently.  Migraine, he thought dejectedly, grimacing as he closed his eyes against the light that was beginning to burn in his mind.

Seeing his expression, both Mieren and Touma ceased their torment of the Warlord and shifted their attentions to him.

"You okay, Dad?"

"Another migraine?" Mieren murmured softly, placing one hand on his shoulder.

Rowen only nodded gingerly, mouth tightening as the slight movement set his head spinning.  He unconsciously dropped his arms from his head and began kneading his left hand with his right.  When a soft keening noise began in the back of his head, he cursed softly and excused himself from the table, weaving his way into the living room to lie down for a few minutes until the spell passed.  Frowning, Mieren followed.

"What happened?" Sage asked slowly, staring after where the two had vanished.

"He's been getting really bad migraines since I can remember," Touma said softly, gnawing his lower lip.  "They're usually not quite that bad, though.  If this one is anything like the others, he'll be up and moving around again in about a half hour."

Mana frowned at them for a moment before handing of the baby Cye to the nearest person, Sehkmet, and wandering into the living room after her father-in-law.  The infant cooed softly in confusion at being handed off so suddenly, turning wide eyes to stare in fascination at the Warlord holding him.  He squealed happily and proceeded to yank a handful of green hair before promptly wetting himself and the man holding him.

"Ah… man… what is it with your family?" Sehkmet cried out in frustration, handing the dripping infant off to Touma as quickly as he could.  Cye snickered softly, the faintest hint of red appearing on his cheeks.  He was glad that no one noticed seeing as to how it may have lead to some rather awkward questions he was in no mood to answer at the moment.

"What about my family?" Touma asked slowly, utterly baffled.

Ryo snorted.  "You did the same thing to him when you were Cye's age."

"Does this mean it's Rowen's turn now?" Dais asked innocently, ignoring the answering glare thrown in his direction.

Touma chuckled softly as he wandered out of the room with his son, glancing over at Mia curiously.  She smiled ruefully.

"Upstairs, second door on the left, under the sink," she said helpfully.

Nodding, Touma vanished out the door.  Sehkmet was already on his feet heading out of the kitchen as well, grumbling about his dripping shirt.  He returned promptly, minus his shirt.

"I'm blind!" Kayura wailed, covering her eyes dramatically.

Cye snickered at the irritated look that Sehkmet threw back at her.  The grin slid from his face suddenly as his shoulders stiffened and his eyes glazed.  Tilting his head back ever so slightly, he began to speak softly into the now silent group at the table.

"Spawning of the shadow's past, elements shall follow the dragon's fires through the night airs as blue armor framed in white rises to his call.  Looking to the midnight stars and shrieking fury into the night, shall he fight the world alone.  Armors rise to fight again, falling to burning arts under a dragon's tears.  Ancient fires shall rise again, breaking free as dimensions fall to fight the powers of past mistakes now broken into shards.  Fires rise and fires die, falling to the dragon's cry."

Ryo paled instantly, his breathing growing ragged.  "Oh God, it's starting again," he whispered, trembling slightly.

"What the hell is going on?" Sage snapped, rounding on him furiously.  "What do you know, Ryo?"

"All those years ago when we were looking for Mieren, there was one premonition that was never fulfilled," he breathed, lowering his head and staring at the table intently.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Anubis demanded, shaking him roughly.

"Because I knew there was nothing we could do about it," Ryo hissed, head snapping up as he distributed glares around the table.  "I saw no reason to have all of us worrying for no reason."  His voice lowered suddenly as he looked away.  "After all of these years," he murmured, eyes misting, "I thought we were finally safe."

"Safe from what?" Akira asked slowly.  Everyone at the table stiffened.

"The children," Kayura whispered.  "How are we going to keep them out of this?"

"Daddy," Ella whispered, tugging on Sage's arm.  "What's going on?"  Gau stood beside her, looking up at him with wide trembling eyes.

"Mama?" Nasuti whimpered, snagging one of Mia's arms.

Touma wandered into the room with his child cradled protectively in his arms.  His gaze roamed around the table before settling on Cye.

"How long do we have?" he asked slowly.

Kento shook his head.  "There's no way to tell.  It could happen at any time."

"How did you even know?" Mia asked slowly.  Touma blinked in shock before turning absently towards her.

"Cye is sending out telepathic signals that even the weakest empath could hear," Mana hissed as she darted into the room, eyes wide.  "Do any of you know exactly what he meant?"

Cye blinked and glanced around numbly, realizing instantly what had happened.  There was no other way he could think of to send them into such a frenzy.  He concentrated fiercely on what he had just said, not hearing the frantic conversation passing between the others.

"How much have you told her?" Cale asked quickly, rounding on Touma.

"Everything," he growled.

"He didn't have a choice," Mana snapped.  "He slipped up when I was watching and I saw one of his little stunts."

"That doesn't matter," Mia snapped.  "She needed to know anyway.  Now what are we going to do about our kids?"

"We need to find someone who can protect them," Sage said quickly.  "Someone who isn't directly involved in this preferably."

Akira growled, furious at being ignored.  "What is going on?"

"All hell's about to break loose," Kento murmured, glancing over at him.

Cye looked around numbly for a moment, eyes blanking again.  Everyone immediately stiffened and rounded on him when he slowly opened his mouth.

"It begins," he whispered.  As if to prove him right, Rowen screamed.

To Be Continued…

I like cheese…


	2. Part 2

Dragon Wars

Part 2

By Mieren

The Ronins and Warlords tore into the living room, nearly trampling one another in the process.  They all froze at the sight that greeted their eyes.

Rowen sat on the edge of the couch, sweat pouring down his face as he gingerly cradled his left arm to his chest, whimpering and panting raggedly.  Mieren was tugging at the cloth covering his arm gently, wincing every time he cried out in pain.  She never had the chance to remove it.

The sleeve running down Rowen's arm vanished in a swirl of disintegrated fabric, revealing the black streaks that scarred his pale flesh.  His subarmor immediately appeared over his forearm, slowly creeping towards his shoulder as he cried out again, ripping at the armor with his unaffected hand.

"She's alive," Rowen cried out, eyes flaring crimson as he fought his subarmor's appearance.  He snapped his head up as his eyes began to swirl into obsidian.  "Touma," he barked, voice cracking on the last syllable.  "Take everyone without armor and get out of here."

"I can't leave you," Touma whimpered, tugging on the edge of the subarmor spreading up his father's arm.

Mieren clenched her jaw, eyes watering fiercely.  "Do it!" she shrieked, throwing him well clear of the two of them, cradling Rowen in her arms.  "Go!"

Tears slipped from Touma's eyes, cutting paths down his face as he backed away.  He cried out sharply and spun, gathering Mia, Mana and the children together before teleporting in a flash of silvery blue flames.

*     *     *

Touma and the other appeared in his parent's home an instant later, a whirlwind of flames licking their forms before reluctantly dying out.  Panting unsteadily, he slid to his knees and slammed one fist into the marble floor, sending chips of stone flying as cracks spread for a foot in every direction of the fist mark.

Eyes watering, Mana handed their child to Mia before sliding to the floor beside her husband, wrapping her arms around him comfortingly as he cried.

*     *     *

Cye purposely averted his eyes from the spell Touma cast to teleport the others out, not wanting to know where they went.  He began to shiver uncontrollably as he opened his eyes and turned back to Mieren and Rowen.

Mieren was engulfed in pearly flames as she fought Rowen's armor and the mark that was undoubtedly spreading up his arm.  Her efforts were obviously in vain, the subarmor completely covering Rowen as he trembled violently in a futile attempt to control it.  He looked over to them with watering onyx eyes.

He opened his mouth to say something, stopping short when his canines lengthened suddenly.  He squeezed his eyes shut, unable to do more than softly whimper in protest.

_"Come here, Child of Hashiba."_

Obediently, Rowen rose to his feet, throwing Mieren clear of himself as he wandered purposefully towards the voice that had called him.  He shuddered one last time before his eyes hardened and expression turned cold.

Mieren stiffened and rounded on the shadowy form behind her, eyes narrowing in hatred as she looked to her crimson-eyed double.  Her lips peeled away from her teeth as she sprang, shifting into her dragon form in midair.  She slapped Rowen out of the way as she passed, slashing viciously at the shadowy form in front of her.  She didn't pay attention to anything past killing her mirror image, forcing herself to ignore the cries of the Ronins and Warlords behind her.

*     *     *

Cye shrieked in agony as shackles of armor appeared around his wrists, scorching his skin as it spread up his arms and over his hands amid tainted blue flames.  Something inside of him tore as he fought the appearance of his subarmor, enormous teal wings unfurling wildly behind him.  A deep growl rising in his throat, he concentrated on banishing his armor, shocked when it stopped and receded by a hairsbreadth.  Grunting in pain, he struggled more fiercely, turquoise flames leaping about him as he slashed at the power binding his armor.

A slender strand of black energy connected his armor to the others and to Mieren's double.  Locking his jaw, Cye lashed out with his mind and tried to shatter it, succeeding only in creating a backlash of power that nearly shredded his mind.  He toppled to the floor, eyes partially rolling back in his head.

Forcing himself to rise, Cye purposely ignored the others as they fought with and lost control of their armors, instead rounding on Mieren and her double.  The teal flames surrounding him gathered around his hands, strengthening until they were almost blinding in intensity.  His subarmor abruptly vanished, leaving only the original cuffs around his wrists.  Looking up at the twin combatants, he reached out with his mind and fired a blast of raw energy.

Mieren's double screamed as the blast incinerated most of her back and the entirety of one of her wings.  Cye prepared himself to attack again when Anubis snagged his left wing and used it to sling him into the wall.

_"Traitor!"_ Mieren's shadow screamed, throwing a bolt of energy at him that only missed hitting him when White Blaze barreled into him from his left, throwing him clear of the lethal blast.  Chimera followed the white tiger, throwing Ryo to the ground as he drew his katanas to retaliate.

Cursing loudly, Mieren slammed into her doppelganger before she could attack again, looking up to Cye with crimson eyes.

"Go!"

Eyes burning guiltily, Cye snagged the two great cats and their cubs with his mind and teleported clear of the house, instinctively following the energy trails that still shimmered in the air to his skilled mind.

*     *     *

Touma snapped out of his grief when a flash of blue light erupted in the house not ten feet from him.  Growling, he summoned his own silvery blue energies to him, gathering up enough power to incinerate whatever had just arrived.

Mana jerked in shock at what she saw, backhanding Touma sharply to snap him out of his blind rage long enough to see who had appeared.  For his part, Cye only blinked at them numbly before losing consciousness.

Taking a deep breath and forcefully calming himself, Touma edged over towards Cye, face softening when he saw Chimera look to him with broken amber eyes before she turned to lick Cye's face gently.  She rumbled deep in her throat and nudged his still form, looking over to the others with pleading eyes.

"Cye," Mia called out softly, dropping to her knees beside him and shaking him gently.  Her sharp eyes didn't miss the bands of black-streaked subarmor encircling his wrists.  She called his name again.

"Cye, what happened?" Mana asked gently, propping his head on her lap, struggling not to look at the enormous teal wings sprawled limply across the floor or the slender blue and white bands locked around his wrists.  Despite her best efforts, her eyes wandered over to the thin black veins running through the blue part of the cuffs.  She quickly averted her gaze when Cye's eyes fluttered open.

Groaning loudly, Cye pushed himself to a sitting position, cradling his head in both of his hands and trembling in agony.

"I'm the only one left," he grated out, unbidden tears forming in his eyes.

"What happened to Dad and the others?" Akira snapped, tired of being ignored.

"What happened to my mother?" Touma asked brokenly.  Cye flinched.

"I don't know," he whimpered.  "Mieren told me to leave.  She was still fighting her double when I left."  Seeing Akira grinding his teeth with tears forming in his eyes, he sighed loudly and turned to the four children.  "Do all of you know about the armors?" he asked slowly, waiting for all of them to nod.  "What about Mieren?"  Again, they all nodded.  Cye took a deep breath before continuing.  "Mieren's double took control of our armors and us.  I'm the only one that got away this time."

"Dad didn't make it like he did last time because of the marks on his arm," Touma murmured to himself.  "She couldn't beat her double last time and now she's facing so many people at once.  She's fighting alone."

"Try losing alone," Kayura sneered as she stepped out a portal of black fires.

"Mom!" Ella cried out, sprinting forward, Gau right behind her.

"No!" Cye yelled, lashing out with a rope of teal flames, snapping the gate closed.

"Star Storm Scream!"

Tears streamed from Kayura's eyes as she shrieked her sure-kill.  A dome of teal light shot up just in time to block the sure-kill, causing Cye to drop to his knees from the strain.  Silvery blue flames intermingled with his own, strengthening the shield.  A second source of turquoise flames emerged within the shimmering dome, causing Mana to gasp in shock as the infant in her arms began to glow.  An instant later, he vanished in a swirl of turquoise energy.

"Cye!" Mana cried out, closing her arms around the empty air.

Cye's head swiveled instantly to look at her and he swore loudly.  Returning his attention to the battle, he slashed another portal as it tried to open, creating one of his own and bouncing Kayura through it roughly.  Using the tiny break to his advantage, he teleported again with everyone in the room, carefully unraveling his spell so they couldn't be followed again.  They reappeared in Cye's apartment, muffled sobs filling the still air.

Ella cried out angrily and landed a blow between Cye's shoulder blades, causing him to grunt in shock and turn numbly to her tear-streaked face.

"Why did you attack my mom?" she all but shrieked, swinging at him again.  Cye closed his eyes guiltily, making no effort to dodge her or Gau.

"That's enough," Mia said sternly, pulling them away from Cye's trembling form.  She turned her attention to Mana, swallowing thickly at what she saw.  Mana was rocking slowly back and forth on the wooden floor, clutching an empty baby blanket to her chest and weeping silently while Touma tried to console her.

Making a face, Cye levered himself to his feet and moved over to them, wings vanishing as he walked.  Sighing, he lowered himself to the ground gingerly, still sore from fighting his armor, Mieren's double, and Kayura.

"Don't worry," he murmured softly once he had caught their attention.  "I saw the spell the he cast just before vanishing.  He's okay."

"Where is he?" Mana choked out, eyes streaming.  Cye stiffened.

"Somewhere safe," Cye answered evasively, refusing to make eye contact.  He was roughly hauled off of the floor and slammed into a wall.  He blinked in shock as his sea blue eyes met Touma's silver.

"Where is my son?" he snarled, eyes flashing.

"Don't worry about it," Cye said softly, eyes watering.  "He's safe where he is."

"Where?"

Cye grunted as he was slammed into the wall again.  "It doesn't matter if I tell you or not," he whispered.  "You have to leave him there."

"Where?!" Touma all but screamed.  Neither Cye nor Touma flinched when one of the bones in Cye's shoulder snapped and began to grind under Touma's fierce grip.

"You can't get him back," he breathed, closing his eyes wearily.  "Now or ever."

"I've lost both of my parents already," Touma cried out angrily.  "I will not lose my only son!"

Cye let out a deep breath and opened his eyes.  "You must leave him where he is," he said sternly, locking his eyes with Touma's.  "Put me down," he murmured before Touma could continue with his rampage, adding softly, "Dad."

Touma jerked his hands back as though burnt, taking an unsteady step back before sliding to the ground, eyes trembling.  "You can't be…"

"Your son?" he whispered, massaging his broken shoulder gently with trembling fingers.  He sighed softly again when he noticed the incredulous stares of the others.  "Unless I'm mistaken, Mana's last name is Mouri.  Yes?" he paused, waiting for the answering nods.  "You adopted her last name instead of the other way around," he stated simply, not waiting for confirmation.  "And the fact that I just saw your s… myself… accidentally teleport almost forty years into the past kind of gives it away."

Oblivious to the stares following him, Cye wandered over to his couch and sank down on the cushions limply, staring blankly into space.  "And to think that all this time I thought I had been abandoned, only to find out that I did it to myself," he murmured closing his eyes against their brutal watering.

"You're cousin Touma's son?" Akira whispered, lowering himself onto the couch beside Cye and looking up at Touma blankly.  He shook his head in disbelief.  "You're almost twice his age."

"Gau," Touma called out softly, catching the younger boy's attention.  "Do you know how to heal?"

Gau set his jaw and shook his head firmly, eyes stubborn.  Ella crossed her arms resolutely and tilted her head back defiantly.

"Ungrateful brats," Mana spat out, eyes growing hard.  Cye placed one hand on her shoulder and shook his head weakly.

"It's understandable that they're mad at me.  Leave them alone," he said softly.  Mana didn't hesitate before obeying him, looking worriedly at his shoulder.

Akira sighed and poked Gau in the shoulder.  "Come on.  We're going to have to fight all of them if we want to help them," he said softly, trying to convince the younger children.  Nasuti released her death-grip on Mia and wandered over, taking his side in the argument.

"Come on, Gau," she urged.

"'Come on, Gau' what?" a soft voice came from behind them, nearly unhinging the small group that had escaped the chaos created by Mieren's double.

Touma turned in numb recognition of the voice, blinking in shock when he saw Mieren peering at him curiously.  A disbelieving grin appeared on his face and he darted forward to pick her up in a bear hug.  She only arched one eyebrow at him and looked around the room curiously.

"What's going on here?" she asked slowly.

"My baby Cye is gone," Mana whispered, staring intently at Cye.  Mieren followed her gaze, her eyebrows slowly rising.

"Well, well," she drawled, moving over to plop down on the couch by Cye, her sharp eyes immediately catching the strange lumps in his shoulder.  "Only two generations removed and I can't detect my own bloodline."  She prodded him gently in the shoulder, her hands flaring up with white flames for an instant as she set and healed the shattered bones.  "A demon with a human presence," she mused, eyes narrowing thoughtfully.  "Now I understand how you achieved the rank of dragon."  Eyes narrowing, Mieren rounded on Mana.  "Child of Mouri?" she asked carefully.

Mana nodded.  "That was my grandfather's name.  My mother wasn't married when she was pregnant with me, so the name was passed down again."

"I took her last name when we were married," Touma whispered, looking over at Cye with a defeated expression.

Mia interrupted them before they continued with the discussion of bloodlines.  "As fascinating at this is, what happened at my house?"

Mieren flinched and let out a deep breath.  "It was a lost cause.  I had no way to win alone and outnumbered, so I left, leaving one of my shadows behind so it would appear as though I had died," she murmured slowly, sadly.  "We need to find somewhere else to hide.  If I can guess where you're staying in two tries without even knowing where exactly I'm going, you're not hidden that well."

"If we can't stay at my place, then where are we going to go?" Cye inquired.

Mieren sighed.  "We don't want to drag anyone else into this, so we can't stay in the city."

"Then where?" Akira asked warily.

"How do you feel about camping out for awhile?"  A round of groans answered for her, but she chose to ignore them.  "Get ready, we're leaving before they start looking for us.  Chimera, White Blaze.  I don't want you to leave the kids alone at any time for any reason.  Understand?"

Two rumbles answered her and she nodded sharply.  The three kittens ran over towards the children and meowed loudly, demanding to be picked up.  Smiling shyly, Gau plucked the panther off of the floor.  Ella made a face at him and claimed the tiger cub, running her fingers through the silky orange fur as chubby paws batted at her.  Nasuti claimed the snow leopard she had been holding earlier.

Nodding happily, Mieren began lifting them onto the backs of the two great cats.  Mia, Nasuti and Akira were promptly placed on White Blaze.  Ella, Gau and Mana were tossed on Chimera immediately afterwards.  She motioned to Touma and Cye sharply, nodding to herself when they obediently fell in behind her, a great cat pacing either of them.  Taking a deep breath, Mieren forced open an untraceable gateway into the middle of the woods behind Mia's house, smirking to herself in wry amusement.  No one would think to look for them at such a close range to the original battlefield.

*     *     *

Cye peered around the cavern Mieren had hollowed out in the ground, eyebrows arching as he noted that the light filling the area came from nowhere and everywhere at once, leaving no shadows.  After having gone outside to leak, he noted carefully that the light was not visible from beyond the opening of the cave, even when he was mere inches from it.  When he slipped into the opening, he grinned ruefully when he realized that sound could not pass through any more than the light.  Mieren was back to using her cloaking shields again.

Looking around to where the children were playing with the kittens, White Blaze and Chimera naturally in attendance, he shook his head and headed for the room Mieren had fashioned for him.  He flopped down on the quilts he had raided from his room when Mieren wasn't looking, grimacing ruefully when he remembered the scolding he had received for gathering the quilts, cushions, pillows, food and sanitary supplies.  She hadn't yelled at him for too terribly long, realizing that they needed a few comforts if they were going to hide out like this.

Inevitably, Cye's attention turned again to the cuffs of subarmor encircling his wrists, black tendrils tainting the clear sea blue.  He sighed and tugged on one again, knowing the futility of trying to remove or banish them.  He couldn't so much as move them around up and down his arms.  The things seemed to be attached directly to his skin, much to his horror.  He whimpered softly when tugging forcefully on one of them only tore the skin around the bands, leaving crimson streams running down his left hand and forearm.

Curling up into a ball, he dropped his forehead onto his knees and tried to relax, soon becoming oblivious to the world around him.

His head snapped up when someone placed a hand on his shoulder, blinking in confusion when he saw Touma sitting beside him on the floor, obviously worried.

"You okay?" he asked slowly, as though he had asked a few times already.

"Just thinking," he mumbled, unconsciously fingering the cuff on his left wrist again before tugging at it and sighing softly.  He looked over at Touma with a hollow gaze before closing his eyes and allowing his head to drop back to his knees.  "I should be leaving," he whispered, refusing to look up.

"Why?" Touma demanded gently, ducking his head as he tried to make eye contact.  Cye cracked one eye and peered at him despairingly.

"I don't know what will happen if she tries again," he said softly, tugging on one of the subarmor shackles again meaningfully.  Touma's eyes softened and he looked away from the tainted metal cuffs.  He knew as well as Cye did that Mieren could do nothing with the enchanted metal.  She had tried several times to no avail.  The things would neither budge nor disappear, refusing to respond to any of the spells throw at them.

Touma cleared his throat softly.  "Mieren sent me in here to get you.  She said that she has an idea of how to get those things off," he murmured.  Cye's head snapped up and he looked over at Touma with a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.  He didn't allow himself to become too excited after seeing the grim expression on his father's face.  Even so, he wandered into the main area of the cave.

Mieren was waiting in the center of the huge dome, idly drawing pictures in the stone with her claws.  She looked up at him emotionlessly when he drew closer and lowered himself down to the floor beside her, beginning to squirm uncomfortably when he noticed that Mana, the children and the great cats were all missing.  Touma sat down beside him, face pale and eyes pained.

Confused and worried, Cye looked over to Mieren, gingerly extending his arm when she held out her hand demandingly.  Her hands immediately shifted into talons.  Cye had to struggle not to flinch when she forcefully slashed at the cuff on his right arm with one claw.  She sighed despondently and willed the talons on her hand to vanish.  She did not, however, release her vice-like grip on his arm.

Cye paled slightly when Touma shifted to sit directly behind him, wrapping his arms around him forcefully, pinning his left arm to his side with a vicious grip.  Licking his lips, he paled further when the arms encircling him bulged with summoned muscles.  Eyes widening, he shifted his gaze back to Mieren, immediately wishing he hadn't.

She held a white-hot eighteen-inch blade in a white-knuckled grip just above his forearm.  Eyes now bulging, Cye snapped his gaze to the children's room, shuddering when he saw the sound barrier placed firmly across the door.

"Mieren," he whimpered, looking up to her expressionless face.  He saw the blade rise into the air and cried out softly, squeezing his eyes shut.

Pain exploded in his forearm as a simultaneous shriek erupted in his throat.  Involuntarily, he leapt back, slamming Touma into one of the stone walls for the moment that it took his captor to ensnare his legs in his own.  Trembling fiercely, he forced himself to hold still, panting raggedly around the pain encompassing his entire right arm.  He opened tremulous eyes and stared numbly at the stump that ended his right arm just behind where the shackle had been.

He didn't have time to think any further on the matter of the agony washing over him before an identical pain detonated in his left arm.  He lurched strangely to the side as he tried to buck, Touma's hold on him tightening viciously until he was sure that his ribs were about to break.  Sucking in a deep breath through his clenched teeth, he shrugged softly, trying to get Touma to abandon his fierce grip.  The hands pinning him obediently released him, helping to pull him to a sitting position when he couldn't rise on his own.

Cye choked when he tried to take a deep breath, grinding his teeth and settling on short rasping breaths and making a point of concentrating on anything beside the pain burning in his arms.

Mieren gently cradled his right forearm in her hands and concentrated fiercely.  Cye watched through stinging eyes as his hand reformed itself slowly as though out of watery clay.  He began swaying slightly and cursing under his breath before she was halfway through repairing the damage to his other arm.

A gentle hand placed itself on his shoulder, causing him to automatically swivel his head to see who was behind him.  Silver eyes locked with his glazed blue.  Touma asked him something, but Cye couldn't hear anything past the metallic ring in the enormous dome.  He blinked in a vain attempt to clear his eyes when the soft light filling the area fluctuated and faded slightly.  Touma shook his shoulder a little more roughly and asked him something.  Cye only slumped to the ground limply as the world finally faded to black.

To Be Continued…

This one time, at band camp…


	3. Part 3

Dragon Wars

Part 3

By Mieren

Cye's eyelids fluttered open slowly, causing him to frown at the darkness surrounding him irately.  He allowed his vision to slip to infrared so he could peer around.  A mass of warmth not three feet from him caused him to stiffen and edge away slowly, summoning energy to hand.  The warm area shifted slightly, crimson eyes winking into existence for a moment.  Silvery blue flames flickered in Cye's vision for the instant it took for Touma to trigger the lights.

Blinking in confusion, Cye dropped the energy he had been gathering, relaxing after he checked his wrists roughly.  Touma grimaced ruefully.

"We couldn't think of anything else to do," he murmured, scrubbing his unruly blue hair out of his silver eyes.

Cye grunted for a response.  "Why are you here?" he snarled, rolling over on his side to face the wall.

"I was worried about you.  You passed out," he said softly, sounding hurt.

"You could have told me what you were planning, _Dad_," he growled, refusing to roll over.  Touma flinched as though struck.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, dropping the quilt wrapped around his shoulders as he slowly rose and headed for the door.

Cye waited until he was gone before rolling to a sitting position and massaging his wrists weakly.  A pale white scar ran around each of his forearms where Mieren had cut them off before forcing them to regenerate.  For a moment he thought that it was his imagination, but he finally came to the conclusion that the skin around his wrists where the cuffs had been were slightly paler than the rest of his arms.

He didn't get a chance to complete his musings when Mieren stormed into the room, eyes blazing.

"What did you say to Touma?" she snapped, lifting him off of the floor by the front of his shirt and slamming him into the wall.

"That it would have been nice if one of you had bothered to tell me what you were going to do.  You could have asked, _Grandma_," he sneered, slapping her arms away from him and storming out of the room.  He could feel Mieren's heated glare boring into his back as he walked, heading unerringly for the entrance of the cave.

"Cye!"

Just as he had ignored Touma and Mieren, Cye paid no heed to Mana's worried voice as she called out to him, slipping silently into the night.

Not really knowing where he was heading, or really caring, Cye wandered aimlessly through the trails, constantly massaging his wrists.  He was sure it was a subconscious memory of the pain of his arms being severed, but they hurt all the same.

He jerked out of his contemplation when he found himself looking at the back door to Mia's house.  His lips curled evilly as he regarded the heat of the others from where they were milling around the house.  There were three of them.  Heat trails radiating outward from the house told him where the others had gone, and not long ago at that.  Probably looking for him, no doubt.  They had left these three to guard the house.  Alone.  Mieren's double was not with them.

Instinctively dropping to all fours, he sped silently toward the house, leaping into the air and landing lightly on the nearest balcony.  No one was on the second floor, after all.  He slid the window open and slipped inside, peering around Ryo's room carefully with crimson eyes.  When he didn't find anything of interest, he slunk into the hall, keeping his stomach just high enough to keep from brushing against the floor.

Cye paused at the top of the stairs, peering down curiously.  Two sets of crimson eyes and one set of golden were present in the living room.  Kento, Ryo and Cale.  He pulled back quickly before he was seen, unconsciously summoning dark gray scales to cover him completely.  He regarded himself cautiously with ruby eyes before nodding smugly and banishing his infrared vision.  The gray scales hid his body heat almost entirely and without his glowing eyes, they shouldn't be able to see him.

Smiling to himself, he lowered himself over the first step, creeping forward inch by inch as he approached the three below.  After what seemed like an eternity, he reached the bottom of the steps and began moving ever so slowly across the room.  He grinned wickedly when he realized that they were leaving the lights off so they could use their night vision to peer out the windows and watch for anything approaching.  A wonderful job they were doing of it too, he thought sarcastically.

He peered around the room silently, squinting wildly as he struggled to see in the darkness without the help of his alternate vision.  He saw something that made him jerk slightly in shock, resting atop the television as if they were nothing more than cheap decorations.  Their armor orbs.

Cye blinked in shock.  The guys were in their subarmor, so how could their orbs be sitting on the television?  He had to struggle not to swear in frustration, settling on making a face instead as he changed his course and moved towards the front center of the room, long pointed ears quivering wildly as he listened for any sound that would tell him if he had given himself away.  Locking his jaw, he slowly levered himself from the floor, reaching smoothly for the nine orbs and one pendant that circled the remote.

Something caused a chill to run down his spine just before his hand closed around the first orb.  His eyes bulged.  They were warded and he had just set of an alarm.

Cye launched himself forward into a smooth roll, narrowly avoiding the katana that plunged into the floor where he had been crouching.  He leapt wildly into the air almost before his feet found the carpeted floor, a vicious slash from a no-dachi missing his chest by a hairsbreadth.  A wildly swinging tetsubo quickly entered the fray, much to his dismay.

Not bothering with sneaking any longer, he launched himself out of the nearest window and summoned his wings, leaping wildly into the air.  Steel cut into his leg just as he passed the treetops, sending him into a wild spiral to evade whatever was behind him.  He peered over his shoulder and swore.

Both Cale and Ryo had followed him into the air, both of them having the ability to shapeshift into forms with wings.  Lips peeling back from his teeth furiously, Cye decided to cheat, doubling both the width and length of his wings.  Pumping his new wings furiously, he quickly outdistanced his pursuers.  He smirked at them over his shoulder.  So slow, he thought contemptuously.

Something slammed into him from below, sending him tumbling out of the air, gracelessly tangled in his oversized wings.  He pushed the shredded folds of skin clear from him as he regained his feet, glaring angrily at the trees responsible for terrorizing them so horribly.  Past the tangled branches, he saw a shadow in the sky just as it dove.

Squeaking softly, Cye spun on his toes and bolted through the trees, praying that the winged shadow wouldn't be able to get through the trees any easier than he had.  It did.  He squalled loudly when he was driven forcefully into the dirt.

_"So the Child of Mouri returns,"_ the cold voice breathed into one of his ears, causing his eyes to bulge wildly.  Hissing angrily, he took the only route of escape available to him, sinking into the ground.

Cye slid almost effortless through the rocky soil, swallowing nervously as he pushed himself to ludicrous speeds.  He suddenly became aware of a presence trailing him.  Kento.  Grinding his teeth at the pure futility of this chase, he changed directions suddenly, heading straight down.

Probing with his mind yielded him the location of an underground stream.  He smiled grimly and dunked himself into the water, using it to propel himself through the earth at higher speeds.  He summoned his gills subconsciously, gasping for a much-needed breath.

When a hand grabbed for his ankle, sliding free when he kicked his foot slightly, Cye altered his direction again to resume heading downwards once more.  After a few minutes, the ground began to grow uncomfortably warm, slowly building heat as he continued on his path.  Eyes rolling to obsidian orbs, he shifted fully into his dragon form, grinning ruefully at the thought.  Only his impossible ancestry allowed him to be doing this, Mieren being a master of almost anything she wished.  That brought a terrifying line of thought to mind.  If he could do this, then so could Mieren.  And if Mieren could do it…

Cye clenched his jaw furiously, deliberately asking the earth if it knew the position of whatever was chasing him.  He was shocked at the answer.  Only Kento continued to pursue him, the double having been outdistanced some time ago.  She must be using all of her power to push Kento through, he realized numbly.

He blanched when the earth suddenly became molten, not slowing his descent.  He was careful to keep his eyes squeezed shut as he shot through the molten stone, grinding his teeth and counting the seconds as his scales began to smolder and melt.  This is bad, he spat out sarcastically to himself, folding his wings firmly around him to hopefully absorb some of the heat before he was fricasseed.  He whimpered against the heat searing him and urged the ground to move him faster, shuddering as the heat continued to build.

Far enough, he thought, changing directions again to run parallel to the ground above.  He sped through the boiling stone at an increasing ludicrous speed until he was certain he could no longer withstand the heat.  He surfaced suddenly, leaping free of the molten lava that had been spat into the night along with him.  The glowing pool sank into the ground once again at his request.

Sighing loudly into the frigid night air, he teleported himself back to the entrance of the cave, careful to unweave the strands of turquoise energy so that it could not be detected in the slightest, let alone followed.  He only managed to drop himself back into the opening of the cavern Mieren had opened before blackness enveloped him once more.

*     *     *

Cye's soft groan caused Touma to stiffen.  He sighed and looked down at where Cye was still sprawled motionlessly on the stone floor.  They had all heard him come in, seeing as how he simply pushed through the entrance and crashed to the floor, partially shredded and covered in molten stone.

He gingerly began working with the stone covering him again, wincing when removing a small patch of stone resulted in a steady blood flow.  Cye's scales had been burnt almost completely away and were missing in large patches.  The stone, in some places, was obviously fused with his skin and Touma didn't know what to do for him.  Mieren flatly refused to do anything.  She was still mad at him for snubbing them and storming off into the night.

The fact that Cye was in dragon form only worried Touma further.  He knew Cye long before he knew that he was his son, and he knew that Cye was the most reserved of the Ronins, only fighting when he had to.  Something had frightened him horribly if he had reverted to this form and traveled underground at such ludicrous depths, as Mieren had suggested had been the case before she proceeded to ignore him.

Mana dropped to the floor beside him, placing on hand on Cye's quivering shoulder.  Mia had left only a few minutes ago to watch the children.  They had been taking turns helping him with Cye for the three hours since he had returned.  Touma was beginning to grow worried, though.  Cye wasn't showing any signs of awakening yet and none of them, with the exception of Mieren, knew how to heal.  Gau and Ella had finally given in and tried to heal him at Touma's request, but neither had been able to do more than reduce the swelling around some of the lesser lacerations covering him.

After a few more minutes of fighting the stone solidified against Cye's skin, Akira wandered out and lowered himself down beside them.  White Blaze poked his head out of the next room, making an obviously disapproving sound and disappearing once more.

Forcing his gray hair out of his eyes, Akira pushed Touma out of the way and began prodding Cye somewhat roughly.  Cye groaned and took a blind swing at him that he easily avoided.  Closing his eyes, Akira held his hands just above Cye's stirring form and began muttering under his breath, one of the phrases he uttered causing Touma to raise one eyebrow curiously.

"Listening to your father, it would seem," he muttered wryly.

"He said he was a pupil of Uncle Sehkmet," he chuckled softly in response, refusing to look up from what he was doing.  Golden flames licked his fingers as he continued to stare at Cye's limp form.  His narrowed eyes shot open suddenly, the stone pieces melted onto Cye liquefying and running to the ground suddenly.

"Of course," Touma growled to himself, leaning back in frustration.  "Child of the earth master."  Akira smiled at him in wry amusement before prodding Cye again.

Groaning loudly and taking another wild swing at the people congregated around him, Cye cracked one eye and peered around slowly, grumbling to himself as he rolled stiffly to a sitting position.

"No need for language like that," Touma smirked.

Cye proceeded to ignore him, glancing around the room wildly until his gaze fell on Mieren.  He grunted irately when he levered himself to his feet, scowling at his shredded wings and tattered hide.

"Mieren," he said somewhat calmly, eyes narrowing in frustration when she didn't acknowledge him.  Grinding his teeth, he set about shifting back to human form, somewhat slowly considering that he wasn't used to this particular ability.  Glancing in her direction again, he continued.  "The armors aren't ours."

 Mieren stiffened suddenly, staring intently at the wall for a moment before slowly shifting to lock gazes with him.  "What do you mean?"

"Our armor orbs and Kayura's pendant are sitting in the living room, but the guys are wearing armor.  It's not ours."

Eyes narrowing, she rose to her feet and pivoted to stare at the opening to the mouth of the cave she had hollowed out of the earth, a growl rising in her throat.

"Sendros," she spat, dropping to her knees to punch through the stone floor in frustration.  Cye blinked.  She had just called her double 'shadow warrior' or perhaps 'warrior of the darkness' depending on the specific dialect she was using.  It was intended to be descriptive and anything but complementary.  He shrugged, deciding that was a fairly accurate description of the doppelganger hunting them.  After remaining in a crouching position for a moment, Mieren rose smoothly to her feet, her imperious gaze keeping them from asking any questions.  She apparently sent a mental summoning, because everyone not in the room sprinted in suddenly.

"My double, Lanfear, has created a set of armor to mimic the Armor of Chains.  They are shadows of the original, just as she is my shadow.  They are just as strong as the original and just as attached to their respective owners, but they are under her control.  As things stand now, we cannot win."

Silence greeted this announcement before Akira growled loudly in the back of his throat.  "So what not?  Do we give up?  Lay back and wait for her to kill us?" he snarled.

Mieren let out something that was an unnerving cross between a growl and a hiss, rounding on him with flashing eyes.  "I never said we were out of the battle, boy.  I just said that things cannot stay as they are now if we wish to survive."  She raised her head slightly, ending any arguments or comments before they began.  "We must reclaim the original armor."

"And how can we do that if we can't win a battle against them?" Cye snapped.  "There are ten of them, and three of us."

"Four of us can fight," Mana corrected, calling forth a whirlwind of pale blue flames to her hands.

"Five," Akira said firmly, pushing himself to his full height, barely topping Mia.

Mieren's expression darkened with each addition to the fighting ranks.  "Only Cye, Touma and myself are going," she hissed impatiently.  "The rest of you are too weak to fight opponents like this."  Her eyes narrowed when she turned to Cye.  "I shouldn't even take you."

"I'm not that hopeless in battle, just because I can't face all of them alone," he muttered defensively, sniffing loudly.

He was about to say more but broke off with a gasp, eyes welling with tears before blanking suddenly.  Sickly blue light shot around him while he stood trembling, condensing around his wrists and forming into two-inch wide cuffs streaked with black veins.  He finally managed to cry out as he slid to his knees, clenching his hands into fists as he fought to cease the spreading of the subarmor.  The subarmor covered his hands and his arms just past his elbows before its spread ceased abruptly.  Gasping for breath, he raised his head numbly, blinking the sweat out of his eyes wearily.

A dull teal dome tainted with black streaks separated him from the others, though Mieren and Touma were slashing at it furiously with deafening cracks of energy.  After a moment, Mana unleashed a blast of her own, the pale blue flames creating faint lines in the shadowed dome.  Growling to himself, Cye blasted the dome from within, watching coldly when the energies melted and slumped strangely within the weave before vanishing.

He was immediately thrown to the ground from behind, a vicious growl resounding in his ear.  Setting his jaw, Cye rolled his eyes to get a better look at the weight on his back.

"Get off of me, Chimera," he said coldly, tensing the muscles in his back to throw her off by force if necessary.  She hissed at him again before backing off slowly, positioning herself firmly beside White Blaze, the two of them directly between Cye and the children.

"Cye," Touma gasped out, pulling him to his feet and eyeing the tainted subarmor warily.  "Are you okay?"

Cye smiled slowly, hollowly, and pivoted suddenly to slam his heel into Touma's ribs, knocking him into the far wall with a resounding thud.  He didn't hesitate before charging Mieren, who casually flipped him over her shoulder in such a way as to ensure that he would land face first on the ground.

He mentally screamed at himself to stop, but his muscles seemed to be ignoring his commands utterly.  Spitting out a string of vulgarities in his mind, he began summoning energies to his call and sending them into the subarmor sheathing his arms past his elbows.  The armor flared with turquoise light in response, searing pain following immediately.  He felt one knee and both of his fists hit the floor when he forced his muscles to lock, squeezing his eyes shut as he remained unmoving in a kneeling position.  Chest resting against his thigh and chin hooked over his knee, he panted heavily as he made sure that he was in complete control again by experimentally twitching.  To the others, it appeared as though he were shivering uncontrollably.

"Just great," he spat out furiously, eyes blazing teal for the moment it took him to force the subarmor to vanish in a swirl of shattered metal, only the cuffs remaining.  He snarled angrily as he surged to his feet, tugging at one of the cuffs roughly.  "This is NOT something I need."

Mieren glanced at him warily before moving forward to swat him upside the head, jumping back as she waited for his reaction.  For a response, he arched one eyebrow and turned to face Touma.

"You seem to be sufficiently terrorized," he muttered dryly as he slipped past Mana to pull his father to his feet.  "You okay?"

Touma blinked at him groggily before answering.  "As good as can be expected seeing as to how I just kissed a stone wall," he mumbled, rubbing his head gently.

"Won't Mom be jealous?"

Touma peeked at him from around the lock of hair that hung incessantly in his eyes.  "Wise ass," he muttered.  "Humph.  My father's curse came true.  I have a son just like me."

"It's good for you," Cye mumbled, turning to face Mieren, more than half supporting Touma.  "I don't think we should give Lanfear another chance to attack.  When do we leave?"

Mieren's eyes narrowed as she watched them.  "Now."

*     *     *

Akira took a deep steadying breath before looking for the others one last time.  Three sets of mismatched glowing eyes regarded him from the shadows, silver and blue in the shadows to the west, teal and red almost hidden directly to the ease, and white and red from the roof of the house just ahead of him.  Touma, Cye and Mieren.  He scrubbed his hair out of his pale gray eyes one last time and shifted onto the balls of his feet, preparing to make the mad dash.  He tried not to curse at himself too loudly for the insanity of this idea.  He had asked to come along, after all.

His gray eyes flashed silver for an instant as they caught the delicate starlight bathing the area in pale shadows.  Taking a deep breath, he began studying the location of the others in the house by the slight movement of the darker regions in the house.  They were clustered in the kitchen and living room for the most part.  Two or three of them were upstairs and out of his way.

Setting his jaw in a firm line, Akira began his sprint towards the house, pushing himself for speed as he drew nearer.  He leapt into the air as he neared the wall, covering his face with both of his arms as he crashed through the kitchen window.  He rolled to his feet and resumed his dash without hesitation, making a point to keep his eyes averted from his father where he stood in the kitchen, momentarily stunned.  Kento didn't have a chance to move before he vanished through the door leading into the living room.

So far, so good, Akira thought to himself as he darted into the opening of the living room.  His eyes positively bulged when he saw the opposition waiting for him.  Mieren's double and a combination of five Ronins and Warlords were lined up waiting for him as he barreled through the doorway.  His mind reeled when he refused to slow his insane charge, instantly picking the route of least opposition.  Only one of the people in his way was not armed with something sharp and pointy.

He altered his course minimally to trample Anubis as he passed, leaping out of the window in the front of the house much like he had the kitchen window.  He had just regained his feet from his mad roll when he heard the window behind him shatter fully as something much bigger than him passed through.  Craning his head to see his pursuer nearly lost him one of his eyes to the swing of a no-dachi wielded by an infuriated Cale.  He flopped to the ground and changed directions just as an arrow landed in the ground where he had almost fallen.

Akira pumped his legs frantically to gain more speed, yelping in shock and pain as the steel of a katana bit into his right hip.  He ignored the pain and pushed himself harder, sweat stinging in his eyes as he neared the trees and the slight ripple in the air.  He stumbled when Sage appeared by his side, flame-trailing no-dachi in hand.  Refusing to fall, he ran on all fours for a moment, praying that he didn't kiss the ground before he could regain his balance.  He cried out joyously when he saw where he was, leaping forward into the shimmering patch of air only a few feet in front of him just as a blade bit into his back, scoring him from shoulder to upper thigh.

The world shifted wildly around him, scenes of wildly altering forest trails, mountains, and valleys shooting through his vision in rapid succession.  The final view presented to him before he was deposited roughly on the ground was one of the oceans from above.  He gasped when he was finally dropped onto a patch of stony soil, the final gateway in a chain of more than a dozen snapping shut the instant he was through.  Panting unsteadily, he lowered himself shakily into the mouth of the cave and lowered himself to the floor gingerly, grunting softly at the pain searing his back.

Akira blinked numbly when Chimera snuffled him curiously before rumbling loudly to summon the others.  Mia and Mana immediately poked their heads out of the room where they watched the younger children with White Blaze.  Mia was the first to reach him, staring at him concernedly.

"Mana, bring Gau and Ella in here.  Maybe they can do something.  He's hurt pretty badly," she called out, sliding to the floor beside him and placing one hand on his shoulder.  "Poor thing," she murmured almost to herself.

Ella and Gau sprinted into the main dome of the cave at the sound of their names, staring wide-eyed as they knelt beside him.  Ella placed one hand on his back gently, a pale amber aura spring to life around her.  Making a face, Gau joined her, delicate pale green flames licking his fingers as he began poking at Akira's hip.

Mia sighed and scooted closer to cradle his head in her lap, running her hands gently through his hair.  Akira stiffened and closed his eyes as he fought the blush rising in his cheeks, which was understandable since he was lying on his stomach with his face in a woman's lap.  He cleared his throat softly.

"W-what are you doing?" he stammered, swallowing nervously.  Mia jumped back, dropping him face first into the floor.

"Akira?" she breathed, eyes widening.  "Oh God.  I thought that Mieren had just acquired some more help."

Akira blinked and craned his head to get a better look at what she was talking about, freezing in shock when he saw the thick gray fur covering his side.  He snorted softly and wriggled stiffly to find a more comfortable position on the floor.

"Well, I should have guessed as much," he muttered to himself, closing his eyes and sighing.  "If Dad can do this, there's no reason why I shouldn't be able to."

"That's neat," Gau called out happily, pausing for a moment in what he was doing.  "My dad can do stuff like that too.  So can Mom.  Can you teach me?"

"Me too," Nasuti called out happily, plopping down beside him with White Blaze and three kittens following her example.  She saw Mia's glare but chose to ignore it.

"Personally, I'd rather not learn," Ella muttered, slowly moving her hand down Akira's back as she forced the skin to close.

"What's going on back at the house?" Mana asked carefully, eyes teary.  Akira glanced at her sadly, not knowing really what to say.  Everyone she knew or cared about was back at the house, her husband, son, and mother-in-law fighting against impossible odds.

Akira stared at the floor guiltily for a moment before shrugging slightly.  "I don't know.  I was only a distraction.  I was never supposed to be fighting.  The others followed me when I ran through the house so that Mieren and the guys could get in while they were busy chasing me around the yard."

"That only leaves them a window of a few seconds to find what they're after and get out of the house," Mia whispered, eyes sliding shut of their own accord.  "They should have been back by now."

*     *     *

Mieren hunkered down on the roof, allowing both of her eyes to shift to a deep crimson once Akira began his sprint towards the house.  She had insisted that they all hold their eyes steady in horrible contrasts so that he would be able to recognize who they were easily.  When she heard the first crunch of glass, she snapped open the last of the portals on the far end of the yard, connecting it to the others she had already aligned and rigging them all to collapse the moment he passed through.

Footsteps sounded below and Mieren lowered herself silently to the balcony outside Ryo's room, slipping in through the glass warily.  Seeing no one there, she continued into the hall and slunk down the stairs as quickly as she could without drawing attention to herself.  It appeared as though the others were catching up with Akira judging from the startled shout from out front.  She grimaced, praying that he hadn't been caught.  Cye and Rowen were to tackle his fiercest opposition from behind so that he could make it to safety, but she wasn't sure if the two of them would be enough.  She should never have agreed to let Akira help them.  He was just a child and she couldn't stand the thought of him getting hurt.

Thinking rapidly, Mieren split herself into two, her copy no larger than a typical housecat.  Peeking into the living room, she found it blessedly empty and darted over towards the television while the sounds of a battle grew fiercer from outside.  She reached out towards the armor orbs, spinning at the last instant before her hands closed on them and launching herself into the empty air just behind her, claws extended.  There was a loud crack of scales hitting scales as she careened into Lanfear, the spell hiding her double shattering.

Both began chanting furiously, black and white flames rising in intensity as they grappled.  Mieren's eyes clouded minimally as she sent her miniature copy towards the armor orbs, swallowing them for safekeeping before leaping into the opening of the second string of gateways when Mieren opened the final portal.  The armor orbs safe, Mieren braced herself.  She had been more concerned with retrieving those than with the spell that was being cast against her.  This was going to hurt.

Lanfear cut off suddenly, eyes blazing with hatred as they swirled into a deep obsidian.  She flipped Mieren into and through the closest wall, following furiously.

_"Where are the orbs, Destroyer?"_ she snapped, taking a wild swing that Mieren was unable to block.

_"Gone,"_ Mieren snapped, arching her neck forward and sinking her teeth into the onyx throat before her.  Snarling viciously, they continued to slash at one another with wicked talons, blood streaming across the cracked wooden floor.

Lanfear broke away abruptly, a maniacal gleam appearing in her eyes as she cocked her head slightly as if to listening to something.  She nodded minimally and returned her attention to Mieren, the smirk sliding from her face when she found her opponent to be missing.  She shrugged minimally.  It didn't matter that her original self had regained the armor orbs.  She had their bearers.

*     *     *

Touma smiled grimly when Akira bolted for the house, greatly impressed at both the boy's courage and speed.  He shifted immediately, throwing one last look at Cye before readying himself to attack anyone emerging from the front of the house.  The second crash of glass caused him to tense his muscles.  Akira was out.  The third crash sent him into his momentarily blind charge.

He watched numbly as Cale lashed out with his no-dachi, nearly running it across Akira's face.  Growling, he slammed into the Warlord, cracking the older man's jaw with the force of his first punch and shattering it with his second.  He leapt to his feet, praying that the man he had grown up calling Uncle in his mind was unconscious.

Pivoting sharply, he barely evaded the thrust of a venom-laced blade.  In jerking out of the way, Sage passed him and charged across the yard in his centaur form, spinning his no-dachi in his hands as he neared his target.  Unable to do anything else, Touma took a deep breath and released a bout of fire, sending Sehkmet leaping away from him and blocking the others from exiting through the window.  He jumped back strategically when Sehkmet regained his footing and came in from the side, swords leading the way.

A shadow passed above him and he jerked back.  Ryo had barreled out of the window from the second floor, using his wings to guide his fall so that he would land almost on top of Akira.  Touma swore.  They had only been fighting for a few seconds and it was already getting bad.  He could see Cye out of the corner of his eye, grappling unsuccessfully with both Ryo and Sage as a gray panther plunged through the portal to safety.  Touma made a mental note to ask Akira later how long he had known he could do that.

Cye's scream caused him to abandon his current battle with the others and bolt towards the other end of the yard.  He could hear his mother and her double thrashing each other in the house, but didn't have time to do anything about it.  There wasn't much he could have done anyway.

Cye was bucking wildly within an intricate tangle of black cords, crying out in agony as a surge of energy coursed through him.  Sage, Ryo and Rowen surrounded him, their energies maintaining the weave.

Howling angrily, Touma careened into Ryo, sending both of them crashing into Rowen.  Strong hands pulled at him, forcing him back slowly as he shrieked furiously.  He could only watch helplessly as subarmor began spreading up Cye's arms, gradually encircling his chest as he thrashed helplessly, his cries of pain rising in volume and pitch as the seconds ticked by.  Piece by piece, the false armor of Torrent appeared about him, Cye's cries slowly abating until they died out completely.

A shadow crashed into the group holding Touma from above, wrapping heavily muscled arms around him before hauling him into the night sky.  A portal appeared just in front of them, Mieren pulling them both through the chain of untraceable gateways.

They reappeared just in front of the cave opening, Mieren landing heavily and accidentally dropping him, cradling her shredded wings and limbs.  Touma didn't hesitate before beginning the weavings of a gateway.  Mieren hissed in vexation and slashed the strands of energy, pushing him into the cave.

"We have to go back!" he all but screamed, pulling her around to look at him by one of her wings.  Mieren ignored him, closing her eyes wearily as she turned towards her own room once again.

"Touma?" Mana asked tremulously, eyes wide.  "Where's Cye?"

Touma slammed one fist into the wall and took a deep breath before answering.  "She left him behind."

"There's nothing we could have done," Mieren growled over her shoulder as she limped stiffly across the enormous dome.  "We couldn't do anything more for him than we could for the others."

"His armor," Mia breathed, closing her eyes brokenly.

"The copy of his armor," Mieren snapped, striding back into the room purposefully, something clenched in her fists.  "These are the originals," she murmured, lowering herself to the ground and opening her fists slowly to pour the nine glowing spheres and the silver pendant onto the floor.

She began positioning them quickly, forming them into a rough circle wider across than she could reach.  Snapping her head back, she leapt clear of the circle as the floor leveled and smoothed itself to perfection.  The armor orbs did not move.

Kayura's pendant flared to life suddenly, causing Mieren to began chanting softly in response.  A perfect circle of liquid light appeared, flowing from either side of the silver pendant to connect with each of the pulsing spheres.

"What is she doing?" Akira asked softly, looking around in confusion.

"The most complex spell I've ever seen," Touma murmured, eyes flicking side to side rapidly as he struggled to follow the complex weave.  "I don't know what it does, but I don't think we should disturb her."

Silence swamped the room for a moment before Mieren began a soft, mystical hum that seemed to originate from somewhere deep within the earth.  Kayura's pendant began to pulse in time with the orbs for a few precious moments.  Twin lines moved from her pendant towards two of the orbs on the other side of the circle, rebounding from those and moving back at eerie angles to those by which they had come.  The lines of molten energy encountered two more armor orbs and began to move towards one another, stopping when they met.  The glowing lines on the floor flared brightly for an instant, the floor behind the pentagram darkening to the deepest black.  Mieren's soft hum faded, leaving the room in silence once more.

To Be Continued…

*phone rings and author falls out of closet amidst a ton of dirty laundry*  Hello?  What?  No, I don't work today.  I'm playing hockey at two.  Why don't you call Randal?  Cause I'm fuckin' tired!

Bonus points for anyone who knows what movie that's from.  ^_^


	4. Part 4

Dragon Wars

Part 4

By Mieren

Cye threw up his bare forearm to deflect the blow from Sage's no-dachi, thankful that scales were just as strong as his armor, if not more so.  He hissed angrily when Ryo managed to score a blow on Akira's back just as he leapt to the safety of the portal.  His inattention earned him an arrow in his side and he jumped back, spitting out a variety of phrases that would have made Dais and Sehkmet laugh uproariously.  He pivoted sharply and jumped back before Sage took another swing at him while his back was turned.

Surprisingly, Sage was only looking at him blankly, his normally bright crystal-blue eyes dull, clouded.  Cye stiffened and stepped back when Ryo and Rowen moved to form a circle around him, none of them making any move to attack.  Sage closed his eyes and raised his hands in front of him, crossing his arms at the wrists and holding them just beyond his chest.  Ryo and Rowen repeated the gestures instantly, black flames licking at their wrists.

Not wanting to see what they were up to, Cye gathered his legs below him and prepared to spring into the air.  Pain lanced through his wrists suddenly, causing him to howl in agony.  Cords of power lashed him in place while the bands around his wrists flared to life and began to spread, oblivious to his bucking or frantic slashes of energy.  A shield was placed forcefully around his mind, ending any such nonsense.

Cye shrieked again when his subarmor continued to spread followed immediately by the entirety of the shadowed copy of his armor, and he jerked against his bonds again, dislocating his left arm for his efforts.  He was dimly aware of the others holding Touma, keeping him at bay while he thrashed just as wildly, nearly ripping free of his captors several times.  Mieren dropped from above, snagging him and vanishing in a flash of light.  Cye whimpered one last time before his muscles stopped responding.

He could only watch brokenly from within his mind as the cords holding him vanished and he rose to his feet slowly.  He nearly lost what little remained of his sanity when he found that he couldn't even move his eyes to look around.  Sage snagged him roughly and healed his shoulder, staring at him blankly for a moment with hollow eyes before turning to head back to the house.  Having no say in the matter, Cye turned to follow.

Mieren's double was waiting for him with a superior expression on her face as she brushed the last of the blood from her supple limbs.

_"Nice to see that you've come to your senses, Child of Mouri,"_ she murmured, swatting him lightly on the back as she disappeared up the stairs, laughing softly to herself.  Cye's eyes clouded slightly as he began screaming every imaginable curse and expletive he could think of in his mind.

_Shit_, Sehkmet thought loudly,_ even I don't use words like that._

_Would you shut up?_ Kento snapped, the thoughts raging through his mind unsteady at best.  _Cye, how is Akira?  Is he okay?_

Cye's mind froze in shock.  He snapped himself out of it quickly, wishing that he could at least move his eyes to look at his friends.  _He's fine.  I saw him escape through the portal Mieren readied for him.  Mia, Mana, and all of you guy's kids are fine._  Several mental sighs of relief filtered back to him.  _How come I can hear you?_

_We're linked through the armors,_ Sage muttered guiltily.  _You can hear us now because you're actually wearing yours.  I tried to warn you, but you couldn't hear me._

_I am so sorry, Cye.  I tried to fight back…_ Ryo trailed off, his guilt almost overpowering his sending.

_Not your fault,_ he said softly, pausing as he tried to squirm inside his armor.  _She would have gotten me pretty soon anyway.  I was having more trouble fighting back every time she tried it._  Cye broke off, every muscle through his body going rigid before he lost control once again.

_How did you do that?_ Anubis demanded.  _You managed to avoid being captured for a couple of days and you can still twitch.  I want to know how._

Cye waited so long before answering that Anubis nearly asked again.  _I'm talented,_ he muttered evasively.  _You guys didn't feel that, did you?_

_Feel what?_ Rowen asked carefully.

_Mieren just started casting something.  I don't know what it is, but it's strong._

_I'm sure we'll find out soon enough,_ Rowen murmured.  _I can't even sense it.  How could you notice it without even trying?_

_Trust me, you don't want to know._

_Try me.  I have nothing better to occupy my time._

Cye hesitated.  The guys didn't know about who he really was, and he wasn't sure if he wanted to tell them just yet.

_Come on,_ Cale prompted.  _How bad can it be?_

_Not necessarily bad,_ Cye drawled.  _Just strange._

_Do you have any idea how much strange we've had to put up with in our lives? _Kayura asked.  _There is no way this could be as odd as some of the things we've seen._

_You wanna make a bet on that?_

_Spill it Cye,_ Kento demanded, beginning to grow interested.

_Fine, but remember that you asked for it,_ he grumped.  _I'm directly related to Mieren.  Being of her bloodline, I can sense her fairly well._

Silence answered him for the few seconds that it took his statement to sink in.  Rowen unleashed a mental sending that strangely resembled the clearing of a throat.

_And how did you manage that?_ he asked patiently.

_What do you think, Grandpa?_

Shock overruled every mental sending.  Rowen spat out something in his mind that Cye didn't quite catch.  Cye could almost feel him straining against the armor frantically.  A flash of blue light erupted in the room for a mere instant before dying out completely.  Rowen actually managed to scowl before he lost the ability to control his features, swearing mentally in response.

_What in the hell is controlling these armors?  It's not any remote region in our minds and I don't think that it's Mieren's double._

"It is Mieren's double," Cye murmured softly, his eyes sliding shut of their own accord.  He vaguely sensed the others cursing mentally in shock.  "She split her soul into fragments when creating the armor.  It's a part of her.  Alive," he breathed, turning lightly on the balls of his feet to look around the room.

Kayura was the first to recover.  _What do you mean she created the armor?_

_And how are you breaking free?_ Cale tacked on.

"These armors are not our own.  Mieren has ours.  Lanfear, her dark shadow, created these.  They are hers," Cye murmured, taking a purposeful stride towards the front door.  Sage and Dais surged to their feet to move directly into his path, calling their weapons to hand.  "They are hers," Cye repeated, stepping forward as though he didn't notice that the others were there.  "Just as I am Mieren's."

_Move it, Cye,_ Sage snapped as he involuntarily leveled his no-dachi.  _Run._

Cye paused where he stood, eyes glazing slightly.  He looked disapprovingly down at his armored hands, frowning slightly as he slowly crossed his arms at his wrists and brought them up to rest across the breastplate of his armor.

The shadowed armor of Torrent vanished, the black streaks flaring into a brilliant silver just before it all disappeared, leaving Cye standing naked in the center of the room, russet locks of hair falling about his shoulders.  Only the infernal shackles remained, refusing to be banished along with the rest of his armor.  Cye only blinked at the bands on his wrists before looking up to Sage with a knowing expression on his face, taking a purposely pathetic swing at his friend.

Cursing loudly in his mind, Sage retaliated, lowering his no-dachi in a deadly arc that Cye watched with a rapt expression.  He threw his arms out to block at the last instant, lips twisting into a pained grin when steel passed cleanly through the flesh of his arms almost effortlessly.  He spared one glance for his stumps before slamming his heel into Sage's ribs brutally, sending him flying into Dais and knocking them both through the nearest wall.

Eyes flaring into a brilliant teal, he regenerated his arms and began to leisurely walk towards the door.  Weapons passed within a hairsbreadth of him as he pushed by his friends, but Cye never flinched, even when an arrow grazed his cheek amid a tangle of cursing.

The shadows beside the door began to take shape as Cye neared, forming once again into Mieren's shadow.

_"Well, well.  The descendant of Mieren, Hashiba, AND Mouri,"_ she drawled, slamming Cye into the floor when he continued to stand unmoving as though in a trance.  _"You should really tone down your mental sendings.  You're quite loud.  It's now so clear how you can resist me,"_ she chuckled softly in the back of her throat as she stood directly over him, lips twisting into a feral smile.  _"I'll just have to try harder, won't I?"_

*     *     *

Sometime later, Lanfear stepped back to inspect her handiwork, throwing a superior look over her shoulder to the other Ronins and Warlords where she had left them to watch helplessly.

Cye lay quivering and broken on the floor, a final tear escaping the corner of his eye as his expression hardened into something murderous.  Rowen could feel his heart clenching.  Cye was so kind, so innocent.  It just wasn't right to see his gaze so cold.  Before, his eyes had held a glint of resistance, a pale shadow of the Cye they knew so well.  Now, that kindness was lost in the cold, hollow depths of emotionless obsidian.  He wanted to scream.  Cye was his friend, his grandson, and it was tearing him up that there was nothing he could do to help him.  It did not escape his notice that the shadowed Armor of Torrent, now composed entirely of swirling grays and black, had vivid turquoise bands encircling the wrists.

*     *     *

Mieren's head snapped back and her eyes clouded in helplessness.  She could feel Cye screaming for help in his mind, but there was nothing she could do.  Every few seconds a blast of energy would accompany the mental sending.  She closed her eyes and allowed the tears to slip down her cheeks as she continued to chant, mentally swearing at herself for taking him along on the raid.  She had known that he would be virtually defenseless if they attacked him through his armor, but she had included him anyway.

"Spirits of darkness, chaos, and destruction, I implore you, open the forbidden gateways that I may call forth our salvation.  Let the ancient fires rise again."

The pentagram flared to life, pulsing an angry blood red that slowly swirled into the essence of pure light, blinding energies of opal fires raging throughout the room.  Touma and Mana blanched and began herding Mia and the children away from the flaring lights, occasionally glancing at the armor orbs lining the circle.  Kayura's pendant and the four armor orbs of the Warlords made up the points of the star, the remaining five spheres of the Ronins placed carefully between them on the connecting circle.  Mieren shuddered slightly before continuing.

"I call to the power of the stones and spirit of the earth.  May the strength of the world rise again.  Armor of Hardrock.  Dao Gi."

Golden orange light flooded the small dome, emanating from the small crystal orb directly to the left of Kayura's silver pendant.  The small sphere disintegrated abruptly, reforming in the center of the pentagram as the Armor of Hardrock.  The helmet of the armor swiveled slowly to look around the room, pausing when passing over both Mieren and Akira before reluctantly stepping back to where the orb had been.  Mieren continued.

"I call to the endless energies of the seas and the surging oceans.  May the eternal tides rise again.  Armor of the Torrent.  Dao Shin."

The next Ronin armor to the left ignited in a flash of teal light, vaporizing where it lay and reappearing in the center of the glowing white lines as the Armor of Torrent.  The armor sagged slightly as it moved back to its place in the outer ring of the pentagram.

"I call to the everlasting spirits and the essence of light.  May the life of the dimensions rise again.  Armor of the Halo.  Dao Chi."

The next armor orb to the left vanished in a flash of emerald light, reforming as the Armor of Halo.  Instead of calmly stepping back as the other two had, it leveled its no-dachi with Mieren and tried to take a step forward.  She casually held up one hand and began to concentrate.  The armor shuddered and stepped back to stand in the forming ring with the other two.

"I call to the endless heavens and peerless strength of the stars.  May the timeless winds of fate rise again.  Armor of the Strata.  Dao Inochi."

The Armor of Strata appeared instantly in the center of the glowing lights.  The helmet swiveled quickly, taking note of everyone in the room, jerking in shock at seeing Touma, before moving smoothly to its place on the edge of the circle.  As it took its place, thick tendrils of light flared to life along the blue sections of the armor, darkening quickly into opaque black veins.  The armored figure twitched once in response before proceeding to ignore the markings.  The helmet turned slightly to regard the last pulsing orb on the outer circle, seeming almost curious when Mieren began chanting again.

"I call to the first of the elementals and the immortal fires.  May the eternal flames rise again.  Armor of Wildfire.  Dao Jin."

The armor hadn't completely formed before twin slashes of light reached out from the center of the pentagram towards Mieren.  She calmly swatted aside the blow as the matching flashes of energy solidified into twin katanas.  Motioning sharply, she turned her attention back to what she was saying, momentarily ignoring the armor as it struggled to keep from moving back to the outer ring with the others.

"I call to the Ancient, the guardian, the protector.  May the defender of the ages rise again…"

Mieren was cut off abruptly as a slender sword slid through her chest, wielded by an infuriated Armor of Wildfire.  She blinked in shock as her gaze rose to meet the angry blue eyes locked on her from within the armor's helmet.  Her gaze hardened instantly as she slashed at it with an inconceivably powerful blast of energy, shoving him back to his place in the pentagram.  Her eyes narrowed in concentration as she opened her mouth to begin again.

She was never given a chance to continue with the ritual.  The shimmering light fluctuated and vanished, drawing inward on itself until it reached a glowing mass in the center of the gathered armors.  The light pulsed once before exploding.

Just as suddenly as the white light enveloped the room, it vanished, leaving only afterimages burned into the vision of anyone who was slow to close their eyes.  Where the pentagram had stood now rested a column of mist, the fogginess so faint as to almost be indistinguishable from the rest of the room.  The floor within the fog was perfectly smooth and empty, neither lines nor armor orbs remaining.

Strewn around the column of fog were five armors lying prostrate on the stone floor, the Armor of Torrent lying atop Mieren's quivering form.  Snarling, she shove the teal blue armor off of her and snagged the Armor of Wildfire off of the floor, slamming it into the nearest wall in a blind fury.

"Damn you, Sanada!  Must you allow your infernal temper to run rampant like that?  Do you have any idea what you've done?"

"You abduct us from the realm of the dead and expect us to sit back while you enslave us for your amusement?" he snarled, slashing at her with his katanas once again.  She sidestepped the blow and slammed him into the wall for the second time in so many seconds, eyes flashing crimson.

"Because of our unholy temper, we are five armors short.  My double has ten armors at her disposal and I have only myself, my son and you five idiots.  We are now severely outnumbered because you," she spat.

"What do you mean, 'double'?" the man from within the Armor of Halo asked warily, yanking his helmet off irately.  Mia and Mana jerked in shock.  He was almost a mirror image of Sage, the only real difference being that he had intense violet eyes in contrast to Sage's crystal blue.  They would have bet anything that he was Date, leaving the other three to be none other than Fung, Hashiba, and Mouri.

Mieren flinched and sighed loudly.  "The other half of my soul," she whispered, dropping Sanada and moving back, refusing to look up from the floor.

"What?" Date breathed, shaking her roughly when she didn't respond immediately.

Ever so slowly, Mieren raised haunted jade eyes to meet his violet.  "You heard me.  When I was created to fight Talpa, I was too weak to win, so my creators tried to kill me for being weak and useless.  Enraged, I struck back, casting the Exodus spell and destroying roughly three fourths of the planet.  At the same time, I was so furious at what they had tried to make me that I shattered my soul…"

"What are you talking about?" Sanada snapped, torqued beyond all reason.

"When I cast the original Exodus spell, I simultaneously banished the part of my soul that was an embodiment of what my creators wanted me to be."

*     *     *

Lanfear began muttering to herself darkly in Japanese as she began planning, wondering why it had taken her so long to figure out how to use their native tongue by tapping into their minds through the armor.  Enjoying the shock and horror radiated from those she had captured in the copies of the Armor of Chains, she began to speak softly about her past.  "My original self made her decision rashly.  She was so angry about her creators betraying her that she gave no thought to what would happen if she split her soul into two pieces.  She left me and ran.  Without a physical form, I could not survive, so I became one with an earth elemental.  Though I was alive, I could not help but feel that Mieren's judgment was in error.  I tried to find her, to be one with her again, to regain the powers we lost so long ago.  I am the stronger of the two, yet I can barely equal her as long as I remain crippled and confined within this form."

*     *     *

"She's been looking for me for more than three millennia and now she has found me.  She desires to undo what I did so long ago, but this must not happen.  Her consciousness is the stronger of the two, and I could not bear to lose.  I have taken precautions to ensure that this will not happen."

*     *     *

"Mieren foolishly believes that she can withstand me.  She placed a shield around her mind so that no one or nothing could merge with her unless she initiated it.  Her efforts are in vain.  She couldn't even escape running into me.  When the dark elves requested that I block the lighter magics, I was more than happy to oblige.  It brought her to me as I knew it would.  But that infernal shield protected her.  For twenty long years, I have labored to create the shadowed Armor of Chains.  Now, she is without your strength, your armor, your magic.  Alone, she cannot win.  I shall shatter the shield and reclaim my body, my powers."

*     *     *

"I knew that she would return.  I didn't know how long it would take her, but I knew she would try again.  I never realized until recently that she had become one with an earth elemental, one of the few true immortals."

"Then how are we supposed to kill her?" Touma breathed.

"We can't," she whispered, sinking to the ground wearily.

"Then why did you summon us from the grave?" Date growled.

"There is yet a way to win," Mieren murmured, looking up with hollow eyes.  "The soul of an elemental cannot be vanquished.  Somewhere within my double, it still exists.  Like I said before, they are the true immortals.  Lanfear, however, is not.  If she leaves the body of the elemental, then we have won."

"How are we supposed to get her to do that?" Touma asked slowly, fearing the answer.

"She wants her original body back.  I'm going to give it to her, and when I do, kill me."

Touma froze, his eyes watering and throat constricting.  "I can't."

"You have to remember that when that happens, it will no longer be me.  I am not the dominant soul," she whispered, looking away.

"Mom," Touma began in protest, reaching out slightly as tears slipped from his trembling silver eyes.

"Save your father.  Your uncles," she murmured, starting forward with pained eyes.  "And your son."

"I can't," he repeated, choking slightly.

"And there is a way to win somehow?" Sanada interrupted coldly, choosing to ignore the acid glare that Touma threw in his direction. "You know perfectly well that we cannot win against that kind of power once the two of you merge."

Mieren nodded sharply.  "Are you an imbecilic?  Yes, there is a way.  When she shifts her soul to overthrow mine, there will be a moment when everyone will be free and she will be defenseless."

"Question," Fung called out loudly.  "If she's so much stronger than you, how is it that you could defeat Talpa on your own but not with her added strength?"

Mieren rolled her eyes.  "For a sorcerer, you sure are dense.  The combined force of two sources of magic is not equal to the sum of the powers.  It is always less than that sum.  And if one source is light and the other is dark, the combination will be less than the single power of either component.  We each grew more powerful when separated, and even being weaker than Lanfear, I was able to defeat Talpa easily.  He was weak."

"Nice to know that you think so highly of our abilities," Mouri grumped.

"No offense, you pointy-eared freak, but the Clan of the Midnight Shadows was always more talented, and stronger, than the Starlight Clan."

"Then how is it that you were created improperly?" Fung countered.

"Simple.  Four men from the Clan of the Midnight Shadows felt that a being of pure darkness would be just a bit out of their control, so they used the lighter arts to create me.  When the time of my destruction came to hand, they wanted nothing to do with it and avoided the confrontation.  They came to this dimension with you five idiots.  I believe you know their descendants."

"The Warlords," Touma breathed, eyes wide.

"Bingo," Mieren muttered dryly, not looking over at him.

"And there were roughly one hundred men that created you," Date murmured, catching everyone's attentions immediately.

Mieren nodded, biting her lower lip hard.  "Because of that, Lanfear is more than twenty five times my strength.  The only reason she hasn't won yet is that she's hindered by the earth elemental."

"And you intend to give her back the stronger of the two bodies?" Sanada growled.

"No.  I intend to be dead before the transfer is complete."

"You would really destroy yourself to defeat her?" Mouri asked softly.  Despite his efforts to remain quiet, everyone clearly heard him.  Mieren didn't hesitate before nodding.

"I cannot stand what she represents, so I separated from her long ago," she whispered in response.  "Surely you remember my raid on your camp?  Or perhaps I should say HER raid?  When I returned to my creators, my senses of _virtue_, _justice_ and _trust_ were all delivered swift kicks in the ass when they tried to kill me.  In desperation to protect my _life_, I turned to a _wisdom_ of spells and myself to end the chaos they had begun."

One by one, the sorcerers grabbed their foreheads as she spoke, glaring at her angrily.

"Did you have to use that wording?" Mouri griped.

"What did you do to us?" Fung growled, still fingering his brow.

Mieren shrugged innocently.  "Just wanted to make sure you were firmly attached to your armors by tweaking your kanji.  It wouldn't do to arrive in battle when you five can't fight in those things, now would it?"

"Shouldn't you have known by the fact that we are speaking the native tongue of this dimension with the armor's help?" Mouri grumped.

"My way is more fun."

"You suck," Hashiba snarled, speaking up for the first time.

"Only your descendant," Mieren retorted lightly.  Hashiba twitched.

Date interrupted before a potentially deadly situation erupted.  He knew full well how bad Sanada and Hashiba's tempers could get.  "Now what?"

Mieren scrubbed her hand through her hair wearily.  "I want each of you to challenge your descendants.  You'll be about even matches that way.  I will take on my double.  Touma, I hate to say this, but that leaves you outnumbered five to one."

"Why can't you just try again and summon the others?" Mia asked slowly, not understanding why the ritual couldn't be begun anew.

"There is a hole in reality where I called the pentagram to act as a portal between the lands of the living and dead.  The very fabric of existence has been torn to create that pathway and another like it would threaten to destroy reality into the fifth and sixth dimensions.  I cannot take that risk," Mieren said firmly.

"Place it where the last one was so you can use the existing hole," Mana suggested.  Mouri choked, face paling and eyes bulging.  He didn't get a chance to say anything before Mieren continued.

"I can't.  Like I said, there's a hole there.  I cannot cast a spell on a place that does not exist.  Any attempt to do so would only widen the hole further and tear up reality beyond where it stands now.  Even if I managed to reopen the hole, I do not have access to the armor orbs or Kayura's pendant.  They are trapped firmly within the area that still does not exist.  It will be days before that hole closes enough where I can retrieve the orbs and another month before the rip in space closes itself."

"I guess I can handle five," Touma said shakily, peering at the floor uncertainly.

"Three," Akira piped up, folding his arms defiantly.  "I can take Anubis out, no problem.  I should be able to handle Cale too."

Mieren shook her head.  "No way.  Cale can fly.  Besides, they're all stronger now and won't hold back in fighting.  You'd probably be hard pressed just to take Anubis."

Akira made a face, ignoring her final comment.  "Fine.  I'll take Anubis and Kayura.  She can't fly."

Nasuti wandered forward shyly, interrupting before Mieren made another attempt to dissuade Akira from taking on two opponents.  "I can fight Cale," she offered, biting her lips when she saw all the shocked faces staring at her.  "I can fly," she whispered, summoning sleek brown wings.  Sanada made a face and rounded on Mieren.  Mia simply looked ready to faint.

"Another thing," he spat, eyeing his descendent.  "You could have at least told us that you did that to our bloodlines."

Mieren raised her hands defensively.  "I didn't do that to Ryo.  Something else got him.  I'm only halfway responsible for Sage, and I only took out Rowen and Kento to save their lives.  Cye is a victim of his heritage and Mouri's tampering, so leave me out of that one completely."

"You should never have gotten them involved," Fung snarled.  "You didn't need their help."

"I did when I came here.  I've grown stronger since meeting them.  Their proximity helped me to banish the last shards of my tainted soul, leaving me free to use the light arts in all their glory."

"But I've seen you use the darker arts.  That slash of energy you threw at me was unmistakably gray," Sanada snarled, eyeing his katanas again.

Mieren exhaled noisily, closing her eyes as though in pain.  "My double is regaining control through mere proximity," she murmured, turning towards the exit.  "Time grows short.  We must attack now."

She stiffened suddenly, staggering to a halt in her tracks, eyes slowly widening as she reached up to pluck a dingy golden arrow from her cheek, turning incredulously to face Hashiba.

"Shit," she growled, ripping the projectile free.  "I forgot about what she did to the Armor of Strata."

"And what was that?" an enraged Mouri snapped.

"She took control of the armor and Rowen all in the same blow nearly twenty years ago.  I don't know what she did or how to undo it."

"Then what if we get rid of the armor?" Mouri suggested, cracking his knuckles.

"We can't," Mieren cried out helplessly.  "If any of you are ever not in your armor, you'll die.  They're the only things keeping you alive in this plane of existence."

The ancient sorcerers glared at her furiously.

"Thanks for the warning," Date snapped.

"Sure thing," she growled, slamming her heel into Hashiba's ribs with a resounding crack, sending the sorcerer careening across the room and depriving him of his bow.

Kicking the dingy golden bow to the side, she hauled the blue-haired man to his beet and slammed him into the nearest wall, raising her head imperiously.

"Mouri," she snapped, eyes flaring crimson.  "Come here."

The elfin sorcerer only hesitated an instant before moving forward and placing one slender hand on her shoulder.  The black streaks tainting the Armor of Strata surged to life, wriggling frantically as they tried to spread.  Several startled oaths began ringing through the dome.

Hashiba grunted, squirming slightly in her grasp, his blank blue eyes growing wild.  He spat out something under his breath as the black began to shift to a stunning silver, vanishing in a swirl of blackish blue light.  Mieren cursed loudly as he disappeared, rounding on the others.

"If you see Hashiba again, kill him," she spat, starting towards the entrance of the cave once more.

Date didn't hesitate before slamming her into the wall forcefully, Sanada and Fung falling in right behind him to add in blows of their own.  Only Mouri held back.

A flash of silvery blue light was the only warning any of them had before an enraged Touma entered the fray, barreling into Date and Sanada from the side.  Akira followed in his wake, careening into Fung as he shifted into his panther form to make absolutely sure he could keep the older man pinned to the floor once he got him there.

Sensing a large burst of power being readied, Mouri held up his hands in unconditional surrender before Mana blasted him from behind.  He wasn't stupid enough to piss off a sorceress, especially one of his bloodline.  There was no telling what kind of power or temper she possessed.

Mieren surged to her feet, eyes flashing.  "Idiots," she snapped, legendary temper igniting.  "Whether you like it or not, Hashiba is not on our side.  He'll kill you as soon as look at you now."  She paused, stiffening and peering around the room cautiously.  "She's coming."

"What?" Fung blurted out, pushing Akira off with a great deal of difficulty.

"She's had control of that armor for over twenty years now and I'm certain she can track it easily.  She knows where we are," she breathed, eyes tightening.  "White Blaze!  Chimera!  You know the drill!"

Obediently, the two great cats darted into the room, cubs at their tails as they rounded Mana, Mia and the children into a tight cluster, excluding only Akira.  Eyes flashing to silver, Mieren held out one hand toward the group, chanting softly.  In a clash of silver, they vanished, leaving only Mieren, Touma, Akira and the sorcerers in the dome.

"Where are they?" Fung asked slowly, blue gray eyes widening.

"Learn to track a spell as it's cast," Mieren growled.  "I sent them back to our home dimension for their safety.  The elves should know what to do with them."

Everyone immediately rounded on Mouri.

"What?" he asked cautiously.

"Since when did she befriend the elves?" Sanada asked sweetly, grinding his teeth audibly.

"How should I know?  I only do what she asks because my descendant asked me to the last time we met."

"And you didn't tell us about this because?" Date drawled, eyes flashing.

"Would you have believed me if I had told you Mieren was on our side?"

"No.  But it still would've been nice for you to have said something," Date sighed, relaxing and locking gazes with Touma, who snarled at him one last time before getting off of him.  Sanada growled and pushed the blond man off of himself, tired of being at the bottom of the pile.

"Interesting," a familiar voice called out softly, catching everyone's attention instantly as Cye sauntered into the cave, one eyebrow quirked inquisitively.  He pivoted slightly to look directly at Mieren.  "I didn't know you could summon the dead."

"Cye!" Touma cried out joyously, rushing forward to embrace him, oblivious to Mieren's stiffening.  "What happened?"

For an answer, Cye grinned weakly and threw back the heavy cloak draped around his shoulders to reveal a turquoise band around each wrist and a total absence of clothing.  "Test of wills.  I won."

Akira started forward but was forestalled by Mieren placing one hand firmly on his shoulder.  She cleared her throat softly.

"Go away, Cye," she said calmly, pulling Touma back roughly with her mind.

Akira and Touma turned to stare at her as one, identical expressions of shock painting their faces.  Mieren's gaze hardened and Touma flinched, falling in behind her reluctantly to the shock of the others.  Akira continued to stare, jaw hanging slack.  Snorting almost inaudibly, Cye shucked his cloak and slammed the nearest person into the wall amid a flash of thick talons.  Date yelped and clutched his face in both hands, curling up into a ball on the floor as blood flowed freely between his quivering fingers.

Silver flames rose wildly in the cave as Mieren tackled Cye, sending them both sprawling across the floor.  Two dingy golden arrows thunked solidly into her side before she managed to shift into a dragon and unfurl one wing defensively.  More than a dozen of the projectiles followed, their flights stopping short upon impaling the thick membranous wing, much to the irritation of the two archers.  Cye followed her example, slashing at her viciously upon reaching his alternate form.  Mieren threw him into the wall and looked up into a scene of chaos.

Date had regained his feet and backed into a wall, slashing his no-dachi at anything that came near him blindly, the slash across his face having taken both of his eyes.  Sage moved past his defenses effortlessly, impaling him with his own no-dachi to leave him pinned against the wall, unmoving.

Sanada had paired off with Ryo, flashes of red and reddish gray appearing around the dome as the two warriors pitted their strengths against one another.  Cale fought alongside Ryo, too slow to do much more than get in Sanada's way and take occasional blind swings.  With his opponent already down, Sage joined in the hunt, leaving Date pinned to the wall as he opted to fight with his talons instead.  In his wolf-centaur form, he was coming terrifyingly close to matching Sanada's speed.

Fung was just as hard-pressed.  He and Kento appeared to be taking turns slamming one another into the wall, floor, or whoever happened to be passing by them.  Sehkmet had long since wandered into the miniature war, slashing at Fung with twin swords.  He hadn't hesitated before shapeshifting and was occasionally spitting streams of venom at the ancient sorcerer, resulting in a variety of oaths that could be described as interesting at best.

Cale appeared to be getting irked at being left behind in the battle against Sanada and joined Dais in pounding on Mouri.  Cords of power flickered in and out of existence as the two battled for dominance, Mouri the weaker but more talented of the two.  He nearly lost his defensive weaves as Cale neared the two, adding his own energies to the reigning chaos.

A pained squall rang through the dome as Akira leapt away from Anubis and a transformed Kayura, nursing one slashed arm.  He had barely landed before launching himself forward in a counterattack, reaching his panther form before his opponents could do more than blink in shock.

Touma was having a much worse time than any of the others, with the possible exception of Date.  Lanfear had him pinned within a black pentagram while he howled silently in agony, waves of dark energy coursing through him as he stood helpless within the pulsing lines of black magic.

It took but a heartbeat to survey the situation, but in that time, Cye had rebounded from the wall and charged again, Rowen and Hashiba falling in right behind him.

Mieren snagged Cye and threw him into Rowen, spinning to face Hashiba an instant too late.  Not bothering with an arrow, he settled on slamming his bow through her chest, creating a resounding grunt and a soft gurgling as Mieren lowered her head to stare incredulously at the golden bow protruding from her sternum.  Shock vanished in an instant, replaced by a legendary temper that outdid the combination of the Sanada, Fung and Date bloodlines.  Even with the firm hold over him, Hashiba blanched and retreated from her furious gaze.  Mieren would have none of it.

Launching herself forward with a shriek of hatred, she slammed Hashiba several feet into the stone of the dome, pushing off of him to careen into Ryo, kicking both Rowen and Cye in passing.  After slamming him into the floor, she rebounded off of Sage, throwing him face first into the ground in doing so, and used Kento as a projectile to drop Sehkmet.

Furious, she continued on her rampage.  Using Cale's wing as a handhold, Mieren swung the former Warlord over her head in a tight circle, using him as a baseball bat to slam Dais into Anubis before releasing him into Kayura.

She was forced to stop her rampage as Lanfear lifted an unconscious Touma by his throat for her inspection.  Tears slipped from her garnet eyes as she watched her only son dangle helplessly from the hands of the most dangerous entity in this or any other dimension.  Letting out a sound that was half whimper, half snarl, she released cords of dark gray energy around the room, collecting Akira and the three remaining sorcerers as she teleported to safety along one of the many untraceable paths she had set up days ago.

*     *     *

The group of five appeared in a small clearing amid a dense forest, Mieren immediately crumpling to the ground, racked with sobs.  Sanada and Fung exchanged unreadable looks before they both backed off.  Mouri, however, lowered himself to the ground beside her, gently pulling one of numerous arrows from her bloodied hide.

"I thought you used lighter magics when you could," he murmured, hoping to distract her slightly from what he knew was tearing her up inside.

"My double is regaining control.  I didn't have a choice," Mieren whispered.

Akira jumped off of the ground where he had landed, storming over with tear-filled eyes.  "How could you leave him there?" he demanded, eyes flashing.  Fung darted forward, trying to silence his descendant, but was too late.

Ever so slowly, Mieren raised her head to regard the boy, her eyes brimming with tears.

"If I had tried to save Touma, she would have killed him," she murmured, slumping back to the ground.  "If I had stayed, she would have used him as a hostage to get us all to do whatever she wanted, and she would have killed him in the end anyway.  By abandoning him, I gave him the best chance I could."

"What do you want us to do?" Sanada asked softly, submissively.

Mieren sobbed softly into the damp earth for a moment before answering in a broken voice.  "There nothing you can do.  We are outnumbered almost three to one, we are overpowered almost twenty to one, and because of that stunt I pulled getting us out of there, I am dying."

Akira froze for an instant before exploding.  "How can you be dying?"

"The cave was warded," she answered almost absently, scrawling in the dirt with a strange expression on her face.  "Against all magic, especially teleportation."  Her eyes looked broken, but her expression began to slip into something resigned, apathetic, uncaring.  She sighed softly and closed her eyes.  "My shield has been broken and I can no longer fight my double.  We've lost."

To Be Continued…

Confucius say:  Baseball wrong.  Man with four balls cannot walk.

R&R!


	5. Part 5

Dragon Wars

Part 5

By Mieren

Touma slowly regained consciousness as blinding bursts of pain washed over him.  Unable to move, he settled on cracking one eye to survey his surroundings.

He was facedown of the floor of what looked to be the living room in Mia's house, lying spread-eagle in the nude.  The first sight to meet his bleary eyes nearly pushed him past the brink of sanity.  The Armor of Halo was pinned to the far wall like some gruesome trophy, blood-caked blond hair peeking out from under an equally crimson stained helmet.  Touma swallowed thickly and tried to remind himself that the person in the armor was not Sage.

He tried to rise again, silently cursing his body's lack of response.  He was about to try again when something tickled the far reaches of his mind, just beyond his conscious grasp.  The sudden realization of where he was and why he couldn't move pushed the strange feeling out of his mind, his eyes watering in shock and denial.  He was lying across a pentagram, arms and legs positioned towards four of the points with his head facing the fifth.

_Not another one_, he pleaded silently, eyes misting.  _Oh God, they have me nailed to the floor with obsidian spikes to make sure I can't break free._  He paused in his ranting thoughts when he heard people filtering into the room from all directions.  "Mom," he managed to whimper, eyes growing dull and clouded.  "Why did you leave me?"

Touma sensed, more than saw, three people flinch.  He raised dull eyes in time to see Hashiba tearing his gaze away from Date's body while Rowen watched him with a pained expression.  He quickly looked away from the third person who had twitched.  Cye's expression was beyond murderous and it frightened him, yet he had flinched.  Hadn't he?

He didn't get a chance to continue with that train of thought, his mind blanking in horror when Lanfear plopped down on the floor just in front of him, smiling evilly.

"Your mind is strong, boy," she murmured, looking him over thoughtfully.  "I must say that I am impressed.  Not only have you been able to fight against the spells and incantations I've been throwing at you for well over an hour, but you've also managed to regain consciousness."  She paused, raising one hand.  Obediently, Hashiba wandered over to her, lowering his head submissively.  "There are many ways of breaking a mind, however strong it may be.  I've heard a saying from this dimension.  If you want to hurt a man the most, take away the things he loves."  She grinned wider when Touma flinched and began pulling furiously at the spikes pinning him to the floor, only succeeding in renewing the blood flow from his hands and feet.

Lanfear chuckled softly in the back of her throat, drawing one claw across Hashiba's throat with a sick pleasure, enjoying the blood that flowed freely down her hand and forearm.  She watched Touma's expression carefully, smirking as he lurched angrily, eyes flashing as the blue-haired man twitched slightly and went limp in her grasp.  Snorting at his minimal response, she pushed the profusely bleeding man to the side and gestured again, Rowen dropping to a kneeling position beside her, his sapphire eyes quivering slightly as she raised her bloodied claws to his throat purposefully.

Touma froze for an instant, mind reeling.  Something that was half growl, half roar escaped his lips as he surged against the pentagram, eyes flashing to silver as he shifted into his dragon form for added strength.  He let out a deafening roar that shook the rafters in the house as he jerked wildly, beginning to foam at the mouth.

Lanfear chuckled softly, eyes lighting up with mirth.  "That's it.  Keep trying, it's quite amusing," she called out loudly, grinning at his answering roar.  She deliberately nicked Rowen's neck with one claw as she moved her hand up to his face, slicing through the delicate skin of his cheeks just below his eyes in slow, malicious movements.  Something slammed into the barrier around the pentagram, making her eyes tighten in amusement.  Touma had managed to rip one hand free and was using it to slash at the walls of the pentagram around him.

"Now I'm really impressed," she cried out happily, pushing Rowen away as she turned to face Touma fully.  "You partially broke free!  Considering the demonic blood in your veins, you shouldn't have been able to move at all in that thing.  It's incredible the powers Mieren was able to pass down to you, considering she can't even do such things herself.  She's too weak.  Even so, it shouldn't take too long for her to come after you.  Would you like to watch her die with the others?"

For an answer, Touma began to tremble slightly in a righteous fury as his temper ignited, causing Rowen to blanch and try to move back.  He knew perfectly well what would happen if Touma became too upset.  He had a temper that put Ryo's to shame and gave Mieren's a run for its money.  It took a lot to kick-start that temper, but once he got started it was all both he and Mieren could do to restrain him.

Oblivious to the danger she was in, Lanfear began prodding him through the pentagram, not affected by its usual hold on her demonic blood since she was the one to have summoned it.  When he snarled and lurched again, she withdrew her hand and gestured sharply, summoning Cye to her side.

"Your son, yes?" she asked softly, smiling at his answering glower.

Before she had a chance to reach out towards Cye, Touma howled murderously, silvery blue flames igniting throughout the room.  The translucent wall around the pentagram cracked.  Everyone in armor, with the notable exception of Cye, choked slightly and collapsed to the floor, convulsing helplessly.  Cye's lack of response to the spell Touma had thrown past the wall only infuriated him further.  Roaring in defiance, he ripped free of the remaining bonds and slashed through the wall that was supposed to be holding him in check, advancing on Lanfear in a cold fury.

"Impossible," she whispered to herself, crimson eyes widening in shock.  She quickly composed herself, evading his first furious blow by teleporting across the room casually.  She snapped her fingers, smirking openly as Cye moved directly into Touma's path of destruction.

Touma rounded on him, eyes narrowing in hatred, fury and helplessness.  He made a near-fatal mistake.  He hesitated.

Cye lashed out at him with his forearm, a blade forming out of the subarmor as he launched himself forward, obsidian eyes devoid of all emotion as the blade slashed across Touma's chest, leaving a deep gash in the scaled flesh, bone showing through in several places.  For his part, Touma only staggered back, eyes watering painfully as his temper flickered and died out.  He edged away as Cye attacked again, unwilling to fight back.

Leaping forward, Cye lashed out with the gray blade, lips twisting into a malicious smile as the wicked tip neared Touma's head.  Just before contact, the blade liquefied and formed into a lump enveloping his arm, resulting in Touma merely being cracked across the skull with considerable force.  Cye scowled at his armor for a moment before banishing it and advancing in a slow, deliberate pace.

Touma only watched as he approached, spirit crushed.  It had been hard enough seeing what she had done to the others, but she had taken it a step further with Cye.  He didn't even have the familiar presence about him like the others did.  Touma's shoulders slumped in resignation as he neared.

As Cye reached forward to swipe at him with thick talons, bright teal bands flared into existence around his wrists, tendrils of blue light spreading across his hands and up his arms.  Cye froze, eyes closing in concentration, Touma forgotten for the moment.  The blue light fluctuated for a moment before receding by a hairsbreadth.  The shimmering flames pulsed once and began spreading wildly.  Slowly, reluctantly, Cye took a step back, face hardening as he fought to reach Touma.

Eyes bulging, Touma lurched to his feet, reaching out hesitantly to steady him.  He nearly lost his hand for his efforts as Cye countered clumsily, the blade on his arm flickering out of existence just before making contact.

Spitting out a curse that made everyone in the room jump, Lanfear stormed forward, eyes flashing from garnet to onyx.  As she placed her hand on Cye's shoulder, he convulsed violently, nearly collapsing to the floor.  He would have had Lanfear not held him up by sheer force of will.  The armor around him that had managed to form flickered and vanished, reforming into a shimmering armor orb above her raised hand.  She reached up to seize it, hissing in pain and frustration when blue flames flared up around the crystal sphere, singing her fingers.

Touma raised disbelieving eyes to the scene before him, eyes glazing and features blanking in shock.  The turquoise crystal orb moved beyond their reaches, setting down on the floor gently before exploding in a blinding flash of light.  The flames rolled gently in the still air, slowly swirling into a dragon composed entirely of various shades of blue fire.  The flames slowly began to dull, forming into thick metallic slabs of armor, empty black sockets remaining where the eyes should have been.

Swiftly, silently, the turquoise dragon of armor darted forward, slamming into Lanfear and Cye with unbelievable force.  It slashed at them with long talons but missed miserably, nearly falling in the follow-through to the swing, only managing to remain upright as it unintentionally rebounded off of Touma, bouncing him into the nearest wall.  Turning clumsily, the teal dragon lashed out a second time, missing again.  Opening its jaw as though to hiss angrily, it wrapped a long slender tail around Touma's limp form and leapt through the window, vanishing into the trees in a matter of seconds.  Lanfear only stared at the retreating form, too startled to follow or send the others to do so.

*     *     *

Mieren lowered herself to the ground slowly, careful not to make any sudden movements that might attract attention to herself.  Sliding forward fluidly, she neared her target silently, eyes shifting to crimson as she neared the enormous two-story house, praying silently that the four following her could keep from drawing any more attention than was absolutely unavoidable.

Tears slipped from her eyes even as she moved closer to her target.  _I'm sorry, Touma,_ she murmured softly in her mind, eyes misting.  _There was nothing else I could do.  Please, hold on.  I'm coming._

"Sanada, fall in," she whispered over her shoulder, tensing impatiently as the ancient sorcerer edged forward to crouch beside her.  "You know what to do?" she asked softly, her muscles tensed so forcefully that they were trembling slightly.

Sanada swallowed roughly and nodded.  He was the one she had instructed to finish her off, being the only one in the group that might have a chance of matching her in terms of speed.  She had waited until they had started out to drop the bombshell on him, taking precautions to make sure that Akira didn't hear.  As far as the boy knew, she had abandoned the idea of taking herself out in order to kill Lanfear.  It was the only way she had been able to convince him to come and fight alongside them.

She waited stiffly in position, not budging until a slight breeze sent the grass and shrubbery around her to rippling slightly.  As the gentle gust peaked, she darted forward, listening closely to the four following her to make sure that they were still there and that no one else had joined in the hunt.  As the wind died, so too did her forward motion.  She could see the outlines of shadows from within the house and did not want them to have time to get ready for her ambush.

Without thinking, she raised her right arm straight out to her side, pausing for an instant before swinging her forearm forward and holding it at a ninety degree angle for a mere instant before lowering herself fully to the ground.  Baffled, Akira didn't move from his existing position directly behind her.  The sorcerers, however, instantly circled to flank her on the right, forming a semicircle on that side with Sanada in the lead and Mouri in the rear.  Mieren held up one hand just high enough for them to see before clenching her fist and twitching her head upwards.  Sanada instantly rushed forward, leaping mightily into the air to land silently on the balls of his feet on the nearest balcony, freezing in position with katanas held ready.

Ducking her head, she held out her hand again and flicked her fingers forward.  Fung flattened himself to the ground and began a swift, silent approach, only the tips of his fingers and toes touching the ground as he sped through the tall grass.  He froze just beyond the hole where the back door used to be, staying well away of any line of vision that might see him from within.

Pointing her hand towards the door and splaying her fingers suddenly, Mieren doubled back to settle down beside Akira, only glancing up to make sure Mouri had seen the signal.  He had.  His elfin agility already had him beside the house and he was scaling the wall even as she looked over to him.  She watched until he gained the roof and vanished to the other side, counting silently to herself as she placed her mouth beside Akira's ear.

"Wait until you hear the battle begin, then come in.  Look for Touma.  If you don't see him, tackle whoever Sanada is fighting at the moment and free him from combat.  He'll know what to do after that," she whispered, her words more breath than actual sound.  Akira nodded slightly, digging his hind feet into the soil for traction, his tail twitching slightly in anxiety.  Placing one hand comfortingly on his shoulder and squeezing softly, she vanished into the grass.

*     *     *

Jaw creaking with a deep yawn, Neris flopped down contently across his massive couch, playfully pushing the other occupant off the far end as he did so, creating a startled cry followed by a loud thump.  Letting out an indignant snort, Siellon jumped to his feet and retaliated, pinning the blue-haired elf securely to the floor after dragging him there by force.  The light elf didn't hesitate before squirming free, making it a full three feet away before he was spilled to the floor as his dark elf roommate tackled him again.  In their house, this was a daily, if not hourly, occurrence, both of them enjoying the ongoing battle for superiority.

Their game was brought abruptly brought to a halt as a flash of silver light shot through the room, blinding them both momentarily.  They both positively gaped as their vision cleared, revealing a small cluster standing in the middle of their living room composed to two women, three children, two great cats and their three cubs.  Only delaying long enough to exchange startled glances, they rolled to their feet and snagged weapons off of the wall, thankful that they kept them in such an accessible place.

Getting a closer look at the five people surrounded by the great cats and their cubs, Neris snorted loudly and hooked his sword into his belt loop, grinning over at his roommate and twenty-year friend.

_"Get a load of this!"_ he called out happily, patting the leopard on the head as he neared the group, eyes lighting up instantly.  _"The Ronins appeared to have spawned in the time that they've been away,"_ he hooted, peering intently at the tiny mirror images of Sage and Kayura standing before him, both of which ducked behind the taller woman who had the third child clinging to her leg.

Siellon blinked in shock before grinning in return and tossing his twin swords onto the floor behind him.  He was about to move forward to greet the stunned group when the white tiger snarled at him angrily, causing him to backpedal sharply.  He stopped his retreat after a few steps, looking imploringly in Neris's direction, who chuckled unsympathetically.

_"It's all right,"_ he said softly, laying one hand on the tiger's back.  _"The dimension's ugliest elf over there is my friend."_

The white tiger looked at him curiously before snorting and settling to a sitting position, still eyeing the dark elf suspiciously.  Siellon took that as an invitation and moved forward, extending his hand companionably towards the small group.  The shorter of the two women shook his hand tentatively, looking lost and extremely confused.

"Mana Mouri," she said softly, blinking in shock when Siellon jerked his hand back as though scorched, trading another incredulous look with Neris.

_"There is no way that this is his daughter.  She's too old, isn't she?"_

_"Younger sister, perhaps?"_ Neris murmured doubtfully.

_"No way.  I thought that Cye was an only child."_

_"She can't be his wife.  She looks just like him."_

"Did you hear that?" the taller woman asked softly, prodding the other.  "They most definitely know your name and I heard them mention the Ronins a little while ago and Cye just now.  I think they're the two that Ryo told me about."

The two elves glanced at each other before Siellon spoke up slowly.  _"I just heard them mention the one with the temper.  Definitely their friends or wives or something.  You don't happen to remember any of their language do you?"_

Neris shook his head.  _"Not much.  I tried to keep track of everything I heard, but twenty years is enough to kill almost anyone's memory on a language they barely spoke."_  Sighing and scrubbing one hand through his hair, he turned back to the group, gnawing his lower lip softly as he concentrated.  "Uh, friends of Ronins, yes?" he managed to get out, praying he was getting the words right.

"Why didn't you say that you spoke Japanese?" Mana asked sweetly.

Neris made a face, his memory clicking as he once again heard the words that were buried deep in his memories.  "Don't remember much," he admitted, pushing a pale blue lock of hair out of his silver eyes.  He grinned suddenly and waved them over to the couch, hoping to put them at ease.  Only the carbon copy of Sage budged, moving forward shyly and extending his hand.  Smiling, Neris plopped down to a sitting position with his legs crossed comfortably and shook his hand.

"I'm Neris Kilumen," he murmured, waiting patiently for the others to calm down enough to give their names.  When the boy hesitated, he pointed over to his roommate, who was still watching the great cats warily.  "Siellon Naymura."

The boy smiled shyly.  "Gau Date," he offered, looking over to the others.  When they didn't say anything, he began the rounds, pointing as he went along.  "Mia Sanada, Nasuti Sanada, Ella Date, White Blaze, Chimera, Shadow, Flame, and Mist," he finished, indicating the panther, tiger, and snow leopard cubs last before turning back to the still-grinning elf.

_"You hear that, Siellon?  It looks like Sage and Kayura got married and had kids!  Ryo too!"_

Gau began gnawing his tongue, looking up every now and then with a mystified expression on his face.  He finally grinned widely.  _"Kento and Rowen too!"_ he announced proudly, nearly giving everyone in the room heart problems.  _"Kento's son is Akira and Rowen's is Touma.  Touma and Mana have a son too.  His name is Cye."_

Neris finally snapped out of his shock.  Sage and Kayura were both demons, so naturally their son would have a number of innate abilities, possibly even the power to sense certain things in an area, including the entirety of a language.  _"Then Mana named her son after her father?"_ he asked, finally thinking he had solved the dilemma of who she was.

Gau shook his head quickly.  _"Nuh uh,"_ he said happily, grinning wider.  _"Cye is Mana's son.  He was sent to the past a few days ago.  He's older than they are."_

The grin slid off of Neris's face as the meaning of the boy's words sunk in and he slowly turned to face Siellon.  _"Is that possible?"_

Siellon shook his head in helplessness.  _"I don't know.  I guess it must be.  Hey, Gau, why are you guys here?  I mean, what's going on?"_

Gau blinked and looked over his shoulder questioningly.  "Aunt Mia, they want to know what's going on.  What should I tell them?"

Mia and Mana exchanged guarded looks, the latter nodding slightly.  Pale blue flames rose around her hands as she summoned a largish pulsing sphere of light in the center of the room, images flashing through it rapidly.  The guys all gathering for the reunion, cracking jokes and pounding on one another.  Rowen screaming as he fought the armor he could not control.  Touma teleporting them clear of the chaos.  Cye appearing after them.  Kayura attacking.  Their retreat into the woods.  Cye battling with his armor and them.  Mieren returning from a raid with the armor orbs, Touma and Akira injured and Cye missing.  Mieren summoning a pentagram and calling the armors, reviving the ancient sorcerers to wear them, and teleporting them into this dimension.

With the end of the flash of silver flames that sent them into the elves' living room, Mana sighed and allowed the glowing sphere to fade.  She turned to the stunned elves, casting another spell as she waited for them to say something.

"I don't understand," Siellon murmured, freezing in shock and raising one hand slowly to his throat.  He looked over to Neris incredulously before scrubbing snowy hair out of his face and looking back to Mana.  "The girl knows her magic well, it would appear.  Better than you, anyway, you pasty freak.  Why didn't you cast a spell to cross the language barrier?"

"Because I didn't need to," he countered, making a face as he turned back to the two women.  "The boy figured it out through his innate abilities.  Powerful, that one.  Now, why is it that all of this has happened?"

"Lanfear is still alive," Mana said succinctly.  Neris frowned.

"Shadow warrior?" he murmured, brow crinkling in confusion.

"Mieren's double," Mia supplied.  Both of the elves froze.

Neris motioned for them to sit down as he jumped to his feet and ran into the next room, returning with an armload of weapons and armor.  He set down the stack roughly and plunked down beside it, pulling on the supple leather underclothes before beginning on his armor, not bothering with modesty.

"I want you to explain everything you know about what's going on," he said authoritatively, continuing to don his armor and motioning for Siellon to do the same.  Sighing wearily, Mia and Mana began explaining everything they knew from Cye's last reiteration of the premonition he had first spoken long ago.

*     *     *

Cye stopped upon reaching the edge of the forest at the cliff's edge, setting Touma down gently and lying down beside him to wait.  He had to regain consciousness eventually seeing as how he hadn't been hit that hard when they had collided.  Also, being Mieren's son, he could stand much worse blows than the one he had taken to his ribs.  He wished he could grimace at the thought of bouncing him into the wall, but the armor wouldn't allow for such movements.

That brought him to another train of thought, one he had been trying to avoid.  Lanfear had grown weary of his resistance and had torn at his mind, ripping his very soul free of his body and replacing it with a piece of her own.  The fact that she could split her soul into viable fragments so easily baffled and terrified him.  He had been left watching helplessly from beyond his body while she pulled 'him' to his feet.  The weakness sinking into his very being was excruciating and had frightened him into doing something that he never would have thought of in normal circumstances.  He had placed his soul in the shadowed Armor of Torrent.

Now, he was trying to get a feel for what he had been forced to do to himself, and he didn't seem to be having much luck in figuring anything out.  Right off, his vision was completely disarrayed.  He could see everywhere around him at once and it was throwing off both his balance and fighting abilities horridly.  Without a sense of forward, backward, left or right, he couldn't move properly.  It had shocked him to the core that he had been able to figure out how to run considering that he was hard-pressed to keep his balance standing as things stood now.  He could barely tell up from down without an equilibrium.  Moving was another matter entirely.  Nothing responded at the speeds or angles he expected, leaving him lurching around gracelessly.

Magic was something that he was still working on at the moment.  Despite his efforts to cast a few of the simpler spells, he couldn't get the weaves to form.  Speaking the incantation was out of the question.  He had neither vocal cords nor lungs.  It irritated him to no end that he was lacking all such abilities.  He had wanted to heal Touma.

He was snapped out of his train of thought as an explosion sounded in the distance, followed by a mental howl of anguish that he distinctly recognized as Rowen.  Taking a moment to orient himself, he began a swift lope in the direction of the house, praying that Touma would be safe where he left him.  The others had closed in on the house, and from the sounds of things, they were losing.

*     *     *

Akira watched tensely as Sanada and Fung vanished, slipping silently into the house at some unseen, unspoken command.  His breathing sounded unnaturally loud in his own ears as he strained his hearing for any signs of fighting.  Staying low enough that his stomach brushed the ground, he started forward slowly, only barely refraining from charging as he neared the back door.  A crash of armor on armor was the only prompting he needed to launch himself forward in an all out sprint.

Using the empty hole where there used to be a window, he leapt into the empty kitchen, swerving unerringly towards the sound of battle raging from the dining and living rooms.  Passing through, he remembered Mieren's instructions at the last minute and left Fung to his own battle with Kento, Dais and Sehkmet.  There wasn't much he could have done anyway in such a tight area.  The four there were barely able to maneuver as it was.  Even so, he slashed his claws through Dais's armor and back as he passed, silently apologizing to the older man as he vanished into the next room.

He nearly careened into Kayura as he entered the next room, quickly altering his path to avoid ending up in a tangle on the floor.  His sudden charge in direction slammed him into Cale and Rowen instead, knocking them clear of where they were struggling to stay clear of Mouri's yari, leaving the elf temporarily free to deflect a blow from Sage and throw him halfway across the room into Anubis.  Picking himself up hastily, he scanned the room frantically, seeing only an unmoving Armor of Strata beside where Mieren and Lanfear were exchanging wicked blows.

A flash of red passed before his vision, resolving into Sanada for an instant before he disappeared in a burst of crimson flames.  A grayish red streak followed him from the stairwell, katanas held ready.  Akira took a deep breath and tackled the second armor as it passed him, sinking his teeth into one arm and claws into the other to defend himself from the wicked blades.  Accordingly, Sanada vanished into the fray as Mieren had said he would.

Ryo nearly threw him free several times, but Akira held on, stubbornly refusing to relinquish his hold.  He never would have been able to pin the older man in normal circumstances, he was too slow to manage that alone, but Ryo had made the mistake of pausing when he entered the room.  Now that he had a hold, he wasn't about to let up for anything.  Ryo may be faster than him, but because of his heritage, Akira was stronger and he knew it.  He wasn't above kicking at Ryo's legs with his hind feet to shred them, hoping to keep him from moving so quickly on the off chance that he managed to get up.  Ryo scowled darkly at him, doing something that he didn't expect.

In a flash of light and swirling of armor, Ryo shifted into a wolf beneath him, taking a vicious snap at him with wicked teeth.  Startled by the transformation, Akira jerked his head back in shock to avoid the shining fangs, quickly compromising by moving one of his hands to hold down Ryo's free arm before he put it to use.  He arched his back and held himself as far away from the older man as he could, wary of the thick spikes and blades now decorating his armor.  His new position allowed Ryo to throw him off, leaping to his feet to follow.  Akira didn't pause before running, pushing Kayura into Sage as he passed by Mouri again.

Ryo caught him in a matter of seconds, throwing him roughly to the floor and summoning his katanas to hand.  Akira lurched to the side, barely evading the fatal blow.  As it was, he received a new trench along his ribs and came up with a new phrase that he was sure would send Sehkmet into convulsions.  The blow devastated both his side and his balance, sending him sprawling onto his back.  He could only watch helplessly as Ryo planted one foot on his chest and raised his katanas for a downward plunge.

*     *     *

Sanada pressed himself for more speed.  Akira had Ryo pinned for the moment, but there was no telling how long that would last.  His descendent had much more fighting experience and would undoubtedly break free in a matter of seconds.  He grimaced upon seeing a flash of reddish gray light behind him.  He had to hurry and find Mieren.  Akira couldn't last for long now that Ryo was up.

He leapt out the window to the front yard, his desperate eyes quickly locking onto the twin black dragons slashing at one another with black fires while a blue dragon stood clear of the battle, watching.  He winced.  Mieren was losing miserably and she knew it, making every evasion and movement as time consuming she could manage.  She looked up upon his arrival, locking gazes with him for a mere instant.  The blue dragon snarled at him and rose to his feet, eyes swirling from ruby to onyx as he neared.

Mieren changed tactics suddenly, attacking for the first time that evening, eyes blazing to life as the first star appeared in the night sky.  As the two neared one another in mid-leap, time seemed to slow down.  Mieren extended her claws and bared her fangs, eyes flashing from garnet to onyx as she made contact, teeth sinking into her opponent's shoulder.  Lanfear smiled as they collided, a ripple of black energy passing through her body as she wrapped well-muscled arms around Mieren.  The blue dragon froze where it was standing, forgetting the ancient sorcerer as it turned to watch the twin black dragons with a malicious sneer forming on its triangular maw.

Sanada pushed himself forward, his entire body feeling hideously heavy as he strained to move faster, katanas drawn and held ready.  Even as he surged forward desperately in what felt like slow motion, everything happened too quickly.  Both Mieren and Lanfear shimmered for a mere instant before a shock wave shot outwards from the two, throwing him to a halt in his frantic charge.

*     *     *

As the shock wave passed through the house, Ronins, Warlords and ancient sorcerers alike froze where they stood.

Akira watched in horror and fascination as the blades descending upon him stopped suddenly just short of his heart, trembling slightly as Ryo struggled for control.  The dingy grays and blacks covering his red armor vanished in a pale swirling mist as he spun to face the door, eyes cold and expression murderous.  Without bothering to look back at Akira, he began a slow, deadly pace towards the front door, brilliant ruby flames flaring brighter around him as he walked.  One by one, the others turned and fell in behind him, Akira and the two surviving sorcerers in the room falling in at the back of the group as they moved out front to see an almost dreamlike vision developing.

Nothing seemed real to Akira anymore as his eyes locked onto the sight before him, shifting absently back into a human form.  Twin black dragons knelt in front of one another, eyes closed and heads ducked, triangular jaws mere inches apart.  The two were indistinguishable from one another for a mere instant.  The one nearest them shimmered suddenly in a flash of colorless light, sending ripples of power rolling delicately across the lawn.  The other dragon trembled slightly for a moment before liquefying and sinking into the ground.

The one remaining dragon turned fluidly to place a gentle hand on Sanada's back where he lay motionless on the ground, pulling him to his feet slowly after a moment of deliberation.  As he regained his feet, he lurched back, leveling his katanas warily.  He jerked and dropped his blades as two figures walked slowly out of the house to join the others, the green and dark blue armors shining brightly as they joined the stunned group.  Date and Hashiba glanced blankly at one another before turning to the black dragon watching them from across the yard, Cye seated behind her in human form, grinning to himself as though he were in the act of pulling some practical joke.  His expression caused Akira to bristle slightly and take a step back.  No matter what the resemblance, it didn't _feel_ like his Uncle Cye.

"Just as you cannot live without your armors, neither can you die while they exist," she murmured in explanation to the stunned group as they stared incredulously at the two sorcerers they had believed to be dead.  "As the armor will repair itself in time, so too shall it heal you."

"Mieren?" Rowen asked softly, starting forward from the stunned group to embrace her.  She smiled gently.

"I'm sorry, Rowen," she murmured, drawing back slightly.  "But Mieren didn't make it."  Even as he jerked back, her expression hardened into something murderous and she slashed at him viciously, tearing huge trenches in his pure blue armor.  Once scored, the armor faded into grays once again, black tendrils reappearing along the dulling blue metal.  He only managed to cry out sharply before rounding on the others, arrow drawn back and released before they could do more than gasp in horror.  His mental cry of anguish and loss echoed through the dimension.

Black flames began rising around the yard wildly as the eight unaffected Ronins and Warlords scattered with the five sorcerers, Kento pulling Akira to safety as he dodged the golden projectiles.  He howled furiously as the black flames ensnared his armor, throwing Akira away from him in a last act of defiance before he lost control of his armor once again.

Akira landed lightly on the balls of his feet, temporarily oblivious to the black flames running along the ground towards him in molten rivers of darkness.  Just before contacting him, the flames turned aside, vanishing upon contact with golden flames that rose from the ground in a protective dome around him.  Similar spheres of protection rose around the two free sorcerers and two unaffected Warlords, all of the Ronins having already fallen to the black energies.  His eyes glazed in a cold fury as he called the others to him, the grounds opening to pull them under and move them to the dome he was in.

Scowling angrily, Lanfear rounded on him, pitting her energies against his in a deadly test of wills.  Golden flames were met and swallowed by the black, almost dying out completely before supporting ropes of orange and teal blended in.  After a moment, dark blue and a vivid copper joined in the weave as Cale and, surprisingly, Anubis fought to add what little power they could.  The dome quivered and cracked as black tendrils contacted it, the obsidian cords augmented by numerous supporting cords of energy from the Ronins, Warlords and sorcerers.

"Come on," Akira grated, eyes flashing to a stunning gold as he fought for control of the powers.  His hair shimmered slightly in the power of his flames, a few golden strands emerging among the silvery gray as he pushed himself too far.  He snarled softly as he slipped in and out of his cougar form, unable to concentrate on anything past controlling the unraveling weave just inches beyond him.  A tendril of teal flames detached itself from the weave to slam into him, forcing him into the form of a great cat, though he was too busy to take note of his altered form past making a mental note to ask Mouri later why he did that.

Added strength, a soft voice in the back of his mind informed him.  Startled, he nearly lost control of the weave before steadying it again, much to Lanfear's frustration.  He had just stabilized the shield again, barely, when the voice returned.

Hold on for a moment longer, it whispered softly, help is coming.

Before he had a chance to ask what it meant by help or who was speaking to him, something crashed out of the trees, barreling into the cluster of captured warriors.  A sleek dragon of blue and white metal rose from the tangle, turning confusedly to snap at Lanfear from where she was pulling herself free of the tangle of arms and legs.

Confused and startled, Akira lost control of his shield, the half woven dome collapsing immediately without his dominating strength.  The two sorcerers behind him tried to hold it, but were too weary to maintain the weave without the help of Akira and the two remaining Warlords.

_Who are you?_ Akira cried out in his mind, straining to hear the voice that had been there only a moment ago.  There was a moment of silence before he got a response.

I am not of the light or the dark.  I am what I am.

_That is not an answer._

Hissing in frustration when he didn't get a reply, he looked to the others, noticing for the first time that they were carrying him as they fled into the trees, having been unable to get his attention.  His vision cleared slowly as he peered at the orange armor under him, making a face and leaping down to relieve Fung of his weight.

"About time you snapped out of it," Mouri panted as he loped recklessly beside him, occasionally looking over his shoulder suspiciously at the two Warlords following him.  "We've been running for a few minutes now.  What gives?"

"I'm not sure," he answered honestly, calling out again with his mind as he ran, and again getting no response.  "What was that thing that attacked the guys?"

"That was the shadowed Armor of Torrent," Cale said carefully as he sped up slightly to fall in beside them.  "I don't know what happened exactly, but it broke free of Cye and ran off with Touma just before you guys arrived."

"What do you mean 'broke free'?" Mouri snapped, eyes flashing dangerously.

Cale looked at him strangely before answering.  "I mean just that.  Touma broke loose of whatever Lanfear was doing to him and she sent Cye to stop his rampage.  His armor started acting funny and rebelling against his movements until it was banished.  The thing reformed on its own as a dragon, grabbed Touma and ran off."

"Just what is going on?" Anubis demanded, pulling up beside the elf and making a face when he got a good look at him.  "And who are you people?"

"Ancestors of the Ronins," Fung growled at him.  "Mieren called us back to help her fight.  Now that she's gone, it's just the five of us."

Akira convulsed suddenly and would have fallen had Fung not caught him and slung him over his shoulders again.  He started to move to get down but decided to stay where he was when his vision slipped to blackness.  He heard the others talking, knew that they were asking him if he was okay, but couldn't respond.

The four of you move slowly.  You will be caught if you continue at that rate.  The help that came was overpowered and has retreated.  They are coming.

_If we move so slowly, then why don't you do something about it,_ he snapped irately, struggling to get his vision to clear as he listened for the response.  None came for several minutes.  He was about to give up and return to the task of clearing his mind when the voice returned again.

You can stop now.  It is safe.

Suddenly, seemingly of its own accord, his mind cleared, leaving him gasping in shock for the moment it took him to remember that Fung was carrying him.  He squirmed mightily until he was finally set down, immediately stopping and waiting for the others to do the same.  Cale and Anubis immediately swung in behind him, Mouri and Fung following suit after a few seconds.

"We need to keep moving," Cale gasped out, flexing his armor experimentally and swearing loudly under his breath about its hindering weight.

"It's okay," Akira said quickly, looking behind him curiously.  "I don't think that they're following us anymore.  We're safe here."

"Why do you say that?" Anubis panted, not overly objecting to resting for a few minutes.  His armor wasn't responding to his wishes either, acting only as a deadweight that he couldn't get away from at the moment.  He wasn't as strong as Cale either and didn't know how much longer he could last at the pace they had been going.

"We just are," he murmured, eyes glazing slightly in confusion.  "They're not coming after us.  They were either delayed or gave up."  Fung immediately nodded, not questioning him.  Mouri, however, looked skeptical.

"Care to explain a bit better?"

Akira shrugged and flopped down with his back against the nearest tree.  He wasn't overly enthusiastic about telling them that he was hearing voices in his head.  He knew about telepathy, his father used to mess with him by doing that when he was younger, and this wasn't it.  The thoughts didn't have an origin that could be traced or recognized as existing as did normal conversation.  They were simply there, and it frightened him.

Anubis was the first to follow suit, too weary to continue much longer even if they _were_ being chased.  Cale didn't do more than make a face before settling down to the ground next to Akira.  Fung sat down leisurely, leaving Mouri no choice but to wait as well.  He set up a warding before claiming a seat beside the others.

Mouri cleared his throat softly.  "What about you two?" he asked, poking at the two Warlords with a delicate mental probe that they wouldn't be able to sense.

"What about us?" Cale asked slowly, still eyeing him and Fung sideways.

"I thought that your armor had been created by Lanfear.  I know some of the spells she used to make the copies you're in.  She should have control of it."

"Not anymore," Anubis murmured, looking at his armor curiously.  "Whatever was controlling it died when that shock wave hit us."

"Died?" Fung asked carefully, turning to Mouri for an answer.

"Cye said that it was controlled by fragments of her soul," Cale responded carefully, finally reaching forward to pull Mouri's helmet off, making a face as he was awarded with a better view of the elf.  "Damn.  It is you."

"You know them?" Anubis cried indignantly.

"Just Mouri.  Remember?  He's the one that turned Cye into an elf."

Mouri made a face at them and banished his armor so he could flop onto his stomach more comfortably in his subarmor.  Fung looked at him strangely before doing the same.  Both Warlords jerked in shock at seeing his face clearly, nearly a mirror image of Kento's.

"Now," Mouri began, flipping his longish hair out of his face.  "If the armor was truly controlled by Lanfear, then the fragments of her soul incorporated into the armor would have vanished as she altered her main soul by moving it into Mieren's body.  Now she's gone, and without her protection, we are now vulnerable to the same sort of control as the rest of you."

"Meaning that Sanada, Date and Hashiba are out to kill us," Akira concluded, looking to the heavens.  "Just great."  He sat up suddenly and looked to the others.  "The armor that got away with Touma was Cye's, and he wasn't wearing his armor when we last attacked.  Why was he captured with the rest?"

Mouri's expression hardened.  "Because that wasn't Cye."

Everyone snapped to attention immediately.  "Then who was that and where is Cye?" Anubis demanded, summoning a golden staff to hand, catching the sorcerers' attentions immediately.

"You're not descended from the Clan of the Ancients," Fung murmured, eyeing the staff askance.  He didn't get an answer when Mouri began his explanation.

"That was a piece of Lanfear's soul that has taken up residence in Cye's body, replacing his own.  When Lanfear merged with Mieren, the armors were released.  Inanimate objects, such as metal, cannot harbor a soul, and without her continued support, the fragments died.  I don't know what happened to Cye."

"Then what was that blue dragon?" Akira pressed, setting his jaw stubbornly.

Mouri paused, looking at the ground in consideration.  "I don't know, but we should stay away from it.  It's probably dangerous."

"It just saved us," he argued, locking eyes with the much older elf.

"I think that it'll attack anything that moves," Fung said slowly.  "It didn't seem to be too specific in what it was slashing at."

"It saved Touma," he continued, his family's streak of stubbornness acting up.

"We didn't say that," Cale muttered, leaning against the tree wearily.  "We just said that it grabbed him and ran off."

Abandoning the argument, Akira began probing around with his mind again.  _Are you still there?_ he asked silently, seriously wondering if he was beginning to lose his mind.  Nothing seemed real anymore.  _Oh, come on.  Please, are you there?_

I am nowhere and everywhere.  For what reason do you call me?

Akira was about to ask where Touma and Cye were when his cheek began to sting fiercely, causing light to explode in his vision.  His other cheek immediately burned with a matching pain.  Swearing mentally, he brought his vision into focus.

Four sets of worried eyes were watching him closely as he blinked and looked around, rubbing his stinging cheeks gingerly.

"You didn't have to slap me," he growled, working his jaw experimentally.

"You weren't responding to anything else," Fung said defensively.

"What happened?" Anubis asked carefully, momentarily forgetting the staff in his hands.

"I was just thinking," he muttered evasively, looking at the ground blankly.  He didn't wait for a response before turning his gaze back to the ground and allowing his vision to slip once more.  _Are you still there?_

I am nowhere and everywhere.

_Damn it.  That is not an answer._

Then what would you have me answer?

_Whatever.  Forget it.  I just want to know where Cye and Touma are._  There was a slight pause before a response came.

I do not know the first.  The second is coming.

Akira snapped to attention and brought his vision into focus once more, realizing suddenly that he was being shaken rather roughly.

"What?" he cried out irately, slapping Cale's hand away a bit more roughly than was necessary.

"Would you quit doing that?" Anubis asked stiffly, grinding his teeth audibly.

Mouri interrupted them before they could continue with their miniature war.  "Anubis," he murmured softly, catching the Warlord's attention.  "Where is my many times removed grandson?"

Grimacing, he swung his staff out in front of him and began chanting softly, only Mouri recognizing the archaic words he was spouting.  He was chanting in one of the languages dead centuries before the War of the Sorcerers ever began, a language powerful enough to stand the world on its end if a wrong phrase was uttered.  He waved the others to silence when they looked as though they wanted to ask the staff bearer a question.

Akira quickly became disinterested in the archaic words he was spouting.  _How long can a soul exist outside of a body?_

Strange questions you ask, young earth master.  The stronger the soul, the longer it can survive before being pulled into the spirit plane, but no soul can last forever.

A loud clanging snapped his attention away from the next question he had been preparing to ask the strange presence.  He looked up numbly to see one of the rings on Anubis's staff clanging loudly, delicate teal flames flickering in and out of existence around it wildly.  Twin cracks appeared on opposing sides of the ring, one flaring turquoise, the other a deep obsidian.  The loop snapped, the twin halves falling to the earth, one swirling into and remaining a shocking onyx, the other surrounded by teal flames that slowly flickered and died.

Everyone in the small group stared in abhorrence at the broken ring before looking back in the direction they had come from, no one daring to say anything for several minutes.  Shaking slightly, Anubis reached down and collected the halves, poking them into his subarmor until he decided what to do with them.  Akira finally cleared his throat and made an attempt to distract them from their worry and uncertainty.

"Touma is on his way here," he said softly.

"What makes you say that?" Mouri asked brokenly, not looking up from the soft earth he was sketching in absently.

Akira tried to think of an explanation that he could give that wouldn't make him sound like he had lost his mind when he was saved.  He grinned suddenly and pointed at the ground a few paces from them.  "That."

The ground rippled gently, opening up a small air pocket with Touma contained within, curled up into a fetal position and quivering slightly, still unconscious.  Mouri and the two Warlords were at his side immediately, pulling him onto his back to see what they could do for the huge gash across his ribs and chest.  Fung held back and looked at Akira curiously.

"I don't know how you knew that and I don't know why you keep going catatonic on us, but I won't ask.  You must have a reason for not saying anything," he murmured as he rose to his feet slowly, throwing Akira an understanding look.  "If you want to ask or tell myself or Mouri anything, you can.  We won't tell the others and we won't bother you unless that's your wish."  He smiled gently before moving over to Mouri's side and repeating what he had said to the elf in their native language.  Mouri only nodded and threw him a small smile before turning back to the task of bandaging the battered young man in front of him.

Akira scrubbed his gray hair out of his eyes wearily, turning his sad gaze to the heavens.  If Lanfear didn't have Cye, then he was still out there somewhere.  He looked to the four men working on Touma, frowning slightly.  Mouri and Fung might leave him alone, but he doubted that Cale or Anubis would.

He sighed loudly.  Mieren was gone, Touma was hurt, and neither of the two remaining Warlords could use their armor.  Mouri and Fung were trying their best not to show it, but they were exhausted.  He was fully aware that neither of them had slept since being summoned and hadn't eaten anything either.  He was honestly amazed that they were still up and moving with how they had been pushing themselves.

They needed Cye's help.  It was that simple.  Freezing in position, he moved the earth gingerly with his mind, waiting for the shifting sands below him to cover him in a nearly invisible layer.  Almost absently, he solidified the soil covering him into a colored shell, slipping silently into the earth once it was in place and grinning at his handiwork.  To the others, it would look like he was leaning against a tree, fast asleep.  By the time they figured out it wasn't him, he would be long gone.  He had to find Cye and knew that the others wouldn't let him go if he asked.  They didn't think that Cye was still alive.  But he knew better.  His uncle wouldn't give up so easily.  Easy-going or not, Cye had a streak of stubbornness that was virtually unbeatable.

He concentrated for a moment, forming a stone bubble around himself and plopping down happily in the center of the slightly curved floor as the marble sphere he had created sped through the earth at ever increasing speeds.

To Be Continued…

Confucius say:  Man who by drown cat, pay for wet pussy.

R&R!


	6. Part 6

Dragon Wars

Part 6

By Mieren

Lanfear leapt forward into the darkening evening, scowling to herself as she ran.  Cye had slowed them down horribly by appearing like that.  What was even worse, he didn't appear to understand the concept of pain any longer, and no matter what they had done to him, he had just shrugged it off and continued with his rampage.

Only Cye's shell of a body had been able to stand up to him in the slightest, shifting into a form that matched the armor so the two could pound on one another on equal terms.  She sniffed loudly as she peered down the trail where the five had escaped.  Capturing them wasn't actually necessary.  They weren't really dangerous, after all.  Their presence beyond her control was almost like a game.  After staying in the elemental's home grounds for the better part of three millennia, she was beyond bored.  The thrill of the hunt was invigorating now that she had obtained what she had come for. 

Several of the Ronins and Warlords cursed at her loudly in their minds, one of them almost breaking free.  Lanfear snarled and strengthened the extensions of her soul that controlled the armors, making sure that they didn't escape.  Rowen was too powerful for his own good and was growing to be a nuisance.  If he continued resisting, she would have to break his mind and soul like she had done with the bearer of Torrent, this time placing guards around the armor so he couldn't pull the same stunt as the other one had.  But not yet.  She was still having fun and if she crippled them completely they would no longer be able to play.

The empty shell that used to house the soul of the Child of Mouri fell in beside her, causing her lips to twitch towards something that might have been a grin.  She had been successful in splitting her soul into two viable pieces, hers naturally being much stronger.  A soul could be split into as many viable pieces as the original could survive for the first few hours that it took it to regenerate itself.  As long as no serious damage was inflicted to the soul, it would fill in the severed section to return to its full strength.  Creating a fragment to replace Cye's troublesome soul and forcing Mieren's soul into oblivion had weakened her greatly, allowing those pests to stand up to her and escape.

"Nasus," she murmured, grinning at the curious expression turned on her from the elfin man trotting along beside her.  He blinked in confusion, an understanding grin breaking out on his face after a moment and he nodded slightly.  Child of the darkness.  It was an appropriate name.

"I say we hunt them down," he murmured, looking at the trail with eager eyes.  Lanfear didn't hesitate before nodding, starting forward with the captured Ronins, Warlords and sorcerers falling in behind the two of them.

The sorcerers themselves were a challenge all on their own.  Not only did they not respond as well to her mental control, but their armor resisted her as well, not being of her making.  But now, without Mieren's protection, they were more vulnerable to her control.  Even so, their strength and skill in struggling had almost gotten them free several times now.  Hashiba was especially obnoxious.  She had enjoyed slitting his throat.  Now that he had regenerated with the help of his armor, she was seriously toying with the idea of getting rid of his armor and him all in the same stroke.  Both he and his descendant were beginning to irritate her.

She hadn't managed to take more than a few steps down the trail before the ground beneath her and Nasus opened suddenly, tendrils of earth tearing at her and the armored figures following a few paces behind.  She could hear Kento laughing uproariously in his mind, urging the ground to fight back more viciously.

Before she had a chance to respond, lava began to rise out of the fissure in the earth, flowing unerringly in her direction.  Hissing angrily, she leapt back, not relishing the idea of singed feet.  The lava swirled into the form of a molten wolf, turning towards her with an uncanny accuracy as it launched itself forward, passing harmlessly by her as she sidestepped the beast.  A granite panther joined in the hunt after a moment, raking quartz talons across her back when she didn't dodge quickly enough.

Hissing furiously, she rounded on Ryo and Kento, punching through their shoulders and lifting them by the gaping wounds.

"Masters of earth and fire," she spat, throwing them at their creations furiously.  She moved in to finish her work, freezing in shock and pain as some unseen force impaled her roughly from behind.  She curled her hands behind her back, cursing when the shaft in her back vanished when her searching fingers contacted it.  A dagger of light.  Temper igniting, she rounded on Sage, drawing her claws across his face, destroying one of his eyes in the process and reveling in the answering mental howl.  It amused her to no end that he couldn't even twitch in response.

"If you wish to attack, master of light, by all means, attack.  I will not have my time wasted by your pathetic, half-planned attempts."

Snarling aloud for their benefit, she began moving down the trail once more, lips curling into an amused smile as she waited for them to try again.  She hadn't inflicted any mortal wounds among the three and had no intention of healing them anytime soon.  They had to learn the price for betraying her.  She was their master, and as her servants, they needed to learn their places.

She hadn't been traveling down the trails for more than a minute when the ground opened beneath her for a second time.  Furious, she rounded on Kento only to find that he was being swallowed by the earth as surely as the rest of them.  Only the fear and confusion radiating from his mind kept her from retaliating.  He wasn't doing it.  One by one, they were pulled into the cold stone depths, only Lanfear's fiery temper and limitless strength protecting them from the earth's fury.

*     *     *

Cye raised his head slightly, frowning when he heard Sage's mental howl in pain.  He cursed himself for having given up so easily, but there was nothing that he could have done and survived.  He had been outnumbered.  It would only have been a matter of minutes before they had dragged him to the ground.  He had been too busy concentrating on how to move to pay attention to the slashes the others inflicted in his armor.  On him, he corrected himself testily, frowning at the gashes in his armor forearms.  They hadn't been exactly gentle with him, to put it nicely.

He had stalled them for as long as he had been able before sinking into the ground to return to Touma's side.  Kento had tried to follow him, but the ground had protested to his presence and had restrained him.  Although it seemed strange, it was almost as if the ground had been responding to his request to hinder his movements.

Shaking his head wearily, he asked the ground to move him to the surface where he had been and was instantly thrown to the surface at the cliff's edge.  His jaw dropped when he saw the bloody ground where Touma had been lying.  No trails anywhere indicated that he had wandered off or been moved while unconscious.  Cursing mentally, he began looking around slowly, wishing once again that he could get his vision to act properly.  His vision was driving him nuts, plain and simple.

Slamming one taloned fist into the ground, he sat down roughly and began planning.  Whatever had happened to Touma, there was nothing he could do about it now.  He needed to concentrate on how to take out Lanfear.  He had felt what had happened before he had arrived at the battlegrounds, and now that Mieren was gone, they were all but defenseless.  He sighed loudly, reaching up to scrub his longish hair out of his face from habit, snorting softly when he remembered that armor didn't have hair.

He froze when the realization hit him.  He had just sighed and snorted in the last few seconds.  Cracking his metallic jaw, he experimentally drew a breath, mind reeling when his chest expanded slightly from the inhalation.  He held the air in his lungs, grinding his teeth slightly in frustration when he found that the armor contracted slowly to force him to exhale.  He finally relented and allowed the air to rush between his pearly fangs, rolling his throat experimentally as he fought to form useable sounds, hissing in vexation when he couldn't do more than form some metallic grating noises in the back of his throat.

Wishing he could curse aloud, he turned his attention to the gashes covering his legs and strangely short wings.  They didn't hurt exactly, but they were uncomfortable in a way.  There was a strange feeling through them, like air across a mostly deadened scrape, making their presence known but not exactly painful.  It was irritating.  He almost wished they hurt, just for the sake of his sanity.  He began to concentrate on one of the larger gashes, tilting his head slightly in curiosity when it tingled sharply as it closed.  Shrugging minimally, he forced the rest of the holes to close.

_So I can control my state of health, huh?_ he mused, settling to the ground and peering at his front legs in wry amusement.  _I wonder,_ he drawled mentally, locking his mind on his eye sockets and entering a pale state of meditation.  His vision flickered slightly before clearing and slowly clarifying, focusing on the ground just in front of him.  Swinging his head back, he congratulated himself on his newfound vision, wondering idly how he had managed to form eyes in the blank sockets he had been sporting.

_If I can tinker with my eyes so easily, I should be able to get my wings into working order.  Perhaps if they were larger and thinner,_ he thought, looking at a stubby flap of metal that might have passed for a useable wing had he been the size of a small dog or a housecat.  _The things barely cover the length of my body._

He could fly as things stood now, but he preferred not to use wind manipulation to raise himself into the air.  Rowen could fly easily doing that, as could he, but he preferred to save his elemental control for battle.  He thought longingly back to the day he had first seen Rowen alive after Mieren had revived him.  Things had been bad then, but they were together and they knew that everyone was still alive, which was more than could be said at the moment.

Rowen had been flying around the room with the others unable to do anything, not being wind masters like they were.  Ryo had managed it by using the closeness of the wind and fire elementals to his advantage.  The talents moved in loops if the master was strong enough.  Just as fire could control air, air could control water.  Water in turn could work with earth, which could command the powers of fire.  The doubled abilities could work in the other direction as well.  A master of one are could generally control two others, though generally not to the same extent.  Other master abilities were linked as well, though he was not as well acquainted with them.  He had the best of all sides, inheriting the ability to control wind and fire from the Hashiba line and the control of water and earth from the Mouri line.  All of his abilities were further enhanced through Mieren, who seemly passed on a control of spiritual mastery as well, allowing him to heal, among other things.  He knew that endowed him with two further abilities from the second loop of masteries, but he was completely and utterly unfamiliar with that loop and didn't know what they were.

He looked again to the ground where Touma had lain, praying that he was safe, wherever he had ended up.  The only reason he wasn't panicking was that he had seen everyone at the battle site as he arrived, and the people who had left early weren't a threat to Touma.  Those who had stayed couldn't possibly have gotten here before him.  Besides, Mia, Mana and the children hadn't been in the dome when he had attacked, leaving open the possibility that they had found him.

He pushed himself to his feet testily, leaping into the air after a moment's hesitation.  Reaching the top of his jump, he began to descend rapidly despite his frantic flapping of his wings.  He increased their size with no better results.  Looking at his strangely folded wings one last time, he willed the winds to lift him into the air and began a swift glide towards where he believed the others to be.

*     *     *

Mana stepped calmly through a milky portal surrounded by rolling violet flames, Mia and the children following her hesitantly.  She sucked in a breath sharply through clenched teeth as she looked around the endless wastelands, the only movement coming from occasional gusts of stale air.  The grounds had been charred to the horizon and beyond, leaving behind only badly scorched stones and corpses that had decayed over time, pearly bones peeking through the rubble in places.

"My God," Mia breathed, looking around with bulging eyes.  "The guys told me that Mieren had blown the place up, but I never imagined…"

Mana didn't respond past nodding tightly.  The Dynasty had stood on the grounds they now treaded, Mieren's blast twenty years ago leaving the place still lifeless, desolate, even after all of this time.  She tried not to look around at the devastated area, wishing that Siellon would open the portal to go home soon.  The place was still saturated with the evil and darkness despite the cleansing flames of the Exodus spell, and she couldn't stand the tainted aura.

"Where should we open the gate to in your land?" Neris asked quietly, looking at her with stunning silver eyes that reminded her of Touma.  "We don't know if there's any place that it would be safe to set us down in."

"A river in a gorge, trees on either side of the small clearing on either side of the ten foot drop," she murmured, summoning the image as she spoke, remembering the cliff from their initial frantic retreat. She fervently wished that she had been able to learn the weaving of a gateway when the two elves had been kind enough to show her at her request.  Being unable to learn the spell or the lengthy incantation, she had to leave the workings to the dark elf, Neris being utterly hopeless in any sort of magic.  Siellon quickly nodded and snapped open the weave, swaying slightly from the strain.  He wasn't as strong as Mieren or any of the guys, or Mana for that matter, and working with something like this was beyond taxing for him.

"Stay together," Neris called out to the fifty elves gathered behind him, wishing once again that he had been able to talk more into coming.  Despite his rank and influence that came with it, no one had been eager to go, which was understandable considering who they were up against.  If Mieren was having problems, then no one in their right mind would want to fight whatever was equaling or besting her.  It was most likely a suicide mission and they knew it.  The volunteers, for the most part, had come for the honor of protecting the Mouri bloodline or the Ronins, feeling indebted for their defeating Talpa and their intervention in the war.

"Sir," came the simultaneous response from fifty throats, the spell Mana had cast a second time crossing their linguistic skills into Japanese along with the two commanders.  Siellon paused in his work to look back at the assembled group, praying that they would be all right under his lead.  He had never led a group before and wasn't sure exactly what all he was supposed to do.  The fifty assembled elves only followed him at Neris's request, the light elf having substantial influence and ranking in his society.

Siellon nodded sharply and burned the image Mana was creating into his mind, finishing his summoning of the weave with the destination in mind.  Without knowing exactly where he was going, this was the most reliable way to reach the location he wanted.  Even so, there was always the possibility that the weave would deposit them in the wrong place on Earth since so many places looked alike.  He nervously stepped through, praying that the gateway opened to an existing location.  If the place he specified didn't exist, he would simply be vaporized in the improper portal weaving.

Mana pushed through right behind him, nearly trampling the poor dark elf in the process as she emerged at the river's edge.  The other poured through behind her, the elves immediately forming a protective circle around her, Mia and the children.  White Blaze and Chimera hissed angrily and edged closer to the three children.  For their safety, they had left the three cubs with a few of the elves in Neris's society, all of them being too young to do more than get in the way.

Even as they gathered, gateway closing behind them, a shadow passed over the group, causing every elf with a bow to turn to the sky.  They managed to look up just in time to see a dark turquoise dragon shoot past them, wings folded to its sides tightly and teal flames licking its form.  At Neris's upraised arm, they held their fire.  It the thing didn't see them, he had no intention of alerting it to their presence.

"Where to now?" Neris asked softly when the dragon vanished into the distant clouds, peering over at Mana intently.

"They won't be in the cave where we were staying," she murmured, looking thoughtful.  "Mieren said that Lanfear was headed there, so they won't return now that our hiding place has been found.  Knowing her, though, they're probably somewhere in the woods still.  I'd send out a telepathic inquiry, but that would attract attention that we most definitely don't want."

Gau cleared his throat softly and tugged on her arm.  "We need to send out scouts to the cave and the house.  They had to have fought in one of the two places and we should be able to follow any trails they left, assuming they didn't teleport.  Even if they did, we should at least try to find where Lanfear and the guys are."

"Child of Date, no doubt of that," Siellon murmured appreciatively.

Ella stared into space for a moment and poked Mana in the side.  "Mom and Anubis aren't together," she called out softly.  Gau perked up immediately and began peering around curiously.

"That means that one of them got away or that Lanfear is sending out scouts.  Either way, that means that someone is still on our side."

"Descendant of the Clan of the Ancients," Neris mumbled thoughtfully, eyes glazing as he thought frantically.  "I'll be damned if your bloodlines aren't strong ones.  So tell me, Ella, where are Anubis and Kayura?"

"Anubis is that way," she said firmly, pointing northwest.  She pivoted sharply and pointed south.  "And Mom is that way."

"How far?" Siellon prompted.

"Anubis is a few miles north, and Mom is about the same distance to the south," she murmured, gnawing her lower lip.

Gau raised his head imperiously, gesturing sharply with his hands.  "You two, head north.  You two, go south.  Look at the coloration of the armor of anyone you see and report back.  Do not let them see you, no matter whose side you think they're on.  I want you twenty to scatter and scout the area.  Remember the terrain and see if anyone's gathering anywhere.  Watch for traps.  I'm sure Lanfear set up some.  Meet back here in three hours.  Move out."

The elves positively gaped at him, obviously not used to taking orders from a nine-year-old.  They looked from him to Siellon and Neris, moving out reluctantly when the two commanders waved them to the trees in with shooing motions.  The phrase 'Child of Date' came up several times as roughly half of their numbers silently vanished into the trees in steady lopes.

"Show off," Ella growled at him.  Nasuti giggled.

"Do you want me to scout too?" she offered.  "I can move faster than them."

Neris didn't hesitate before nodding.  "Be careful, though.  Don't approach anyone for any reason.  Move out, Child of Sanada."

Mia caught her arm before she had taken more than two steps, scowling furiously at Neris and seriously considering backhanding him.

"Are you crazy?" she spat.  "She's only eight!"

Clearing his throat softly, Neris peered at the two of them.  "She is a Sanada, and as such, she can move with more speed and skill than most of the warriors that I've brought with us.  With her bloodline, she has a better chance of overpowering or outrunning anyone she finds as well.  She is safer scouting than any of my troops."

Nasuti nodded as though she had already known this and pulled free of Mia's grasp almost effortlessly, shifting into a deep brown wolf as she moved towards the trees, sleek wings furled neatly along her back, pausing to shuck her clothes and toss them back towards the others.  She cast one last look as them with luminescent garnet eyes before vanishing into the woods to the south, choosing to ignore the murderous looks her mother was throwing in her direction.

Trembling as she fought to control her temper, Mia slid to the ground, spitting out something pertaining to her daughter and her husband's inhuman stubbornness that Mana was glad she didn't hear.

"Should I go too?" Gau asked in all seriousness, looking at the commanding elves curiously.  "I can do the same thing that she can."

Neris and Siellon exchanged guarded looks before nodding slowly.  "The decision is yours, tactician," the former murmured respectfully.  Nodding carefully, Gau followed Nasuti's example and shucked off his clothes, not bothering to transform first seeing as how he wasn't overly concerned with the concept of modesty.  He concentrated for a moment before shifting into a golden wolf, so dark as to nearly appear bronze, his eyes blazing a bright gold as he headed unerringly north.  Ella sniffed in disapproval and folded her arms defiantly, plopping down by Chimera.

"I am not going to scout," she said firmly.  "I don't understand why anyone would want to turn into an animal like that anyway."  Mana smiled weakly.

"You don't have to scout if you don't want to.  But we would appreciate it if you told us how you know where Anubis and Kayura are."

Ella made a face as she thought about it.  "Mom is from the Clan of the Ancients, so between that and the fact that she's my mom, I can sense her presence fairly well.  As for Uncle Anubis, he's the current holder of the staff, I think.  Anyone from the guardian's bloodline should be able to sense him very well."

"Of course," Siellon murmured, looking thoughtful.  "Never thought of that."

"Of course you wouldn't," Neris growled.  "You're an idiot."

"Gee, thanks."

*     *     *

Anubis and Cale looked over to Akira several times, neither having the heart to wake him.  A shadow passed above them, nearly giving them both heart problems and sending everyone ducking for cover.  Mouri snagged Touma and threw him forcefully into the foliage of the nearest tree, praying that he wouldn't be seen.  Fung reached out to snag Akira as he leapt towards the thicker clusters of trees for cover, eyes bulging when 'Akira' shattered into stone shards.  Swearing silently to himself, he continued with his dive towards the trees, making a mental note to kick Akira's ass later for sneaking off.

The shadow above stalled in passing over them, dropping out of the air to land unerringly in the area where they had been sitting.  The two Warlords could only watch numbly as a dragon of blue armor landed heavily on the ground, legs splayed wildly as it struggled to stay on its feet.  It swiveled its head suddenly to look towards Mouri, making a soft huffing sound as it blinked strange silver eyes that looked suspiciously like mercury.  Mouri cursed and readied a spell, bringing the metallic dragon to an abrupt halt, plopping down awkwardly to wait him out.

Mouri held his spell ready, waiting for the others to fall into position.  When he saw Fung sneak behind the beast, tetsubo held ready, he released his spell, snarling when the thing leapt drunkenly out of the way, crashing heavily into a nearby tree.  Fung didn't give it a chance to get up.

"Iron Rock Crusher!"

The armor shell of a dragon spasmed under the sure-kill, writhing on the ground for a moment before lurching away from them, whimpering softly as it lurched to its feet.  Cale joined in, slashing at the blue side with his no-dachi, holding his demonic form for as much strength as he could summon, splitting open the ribcage in a ragged gouge.  The dragon let out a metallic squeal, jumping away from him towards Mouri, swinging the startled elf in front of him for protection from the others, trembling slightly as it looked at the deep trench in its side.

Cale and Fung moved back angrily, watching Anubis as he slunk in from behind.  The blue dragon must have heard him, leaping mightily into the air with his hostage to land a good distance from the others.  After eyeing them each intently, it released Mouri and stepped back, settling to the ground stiffly and clutching its split side in one taloned hand.  Mouri didn't hesitate before sprinting back to the others, yari held ready as he spun to face their opponent once more.

"Damn you," Fung snarled, swing his tetsubo forward.  "Leave us alone."

For an answer, the dragon only shrugged and looked around, pointing first to Fung then motioning with one hand a ways above the ground, looking around again.

Mouri scowled.  "We are not going to tell you where Akira is," he snapped.

Snuffling softly, the teal beast pointed to Mouri and then to himself, tilting its head slightly as it waited for a response.  When it didn't get one, it repeated the gesture and snorted loudly for emphasis.  Mouri's expression darkened.

"Go away," he snarled, raising his yari.  "Super Wave…"

"Iron Rock…"

Making a choking sound, the blue dragon backpedaled frantically, shaking his head as he moved away, turning to run in an all out retreat when neither of the sorcerers lowered their weapons.

"A fine lot of good we did," Anubis growled irately, scrubbing his hair out of his face and trying once again to banish his armor.  He waited until the dragon disappeared into the trees before looking to where Akira had been sitting.  "Damn it.  Where is he?"

"I don't know, but I'm betting that he never actually went to sleep.  He was probably gone the moment that it looked like he closed his eyes," Fung spat, grinding his teeth audibly.

"You're an earth master, aren't you?" Cale demanded, eyes flashing briefly as he shifted back into a human form.  "Couldn't you sense him?"

"I'm a weak earth master at best," he grumbled, starting at the stone shards of Akira's deception.  "The boy is the strongest earth master in existence or in history, to the best of my knowledge.  He could have easily told the ground not to alert me to what he was doing."

"Great," Mouri spat.  "He won't be able to find us again.  We can't stay here."

"We'll find him later," Anubis said firmly, starting into the trees in a greatly different direction than the dragon had taken.  "Until then, we can't allow ourselves to be captured."  The others hesitated before nodding reluctantly and following his lead, Mouri pulling Touma out of the tree and passing him gently to Fung to carry.  The group of five quickly vanished into the endless forest, oblivious to the hidden eyes watching their retreat.

*     *     *

Cye limped to a halt after he was sure he was out of view, cursing mentally to himself for his stupidity.  Of course they'd attack him.  They didn't know what had happened, what he had done.  As far as they were concerned, he was just another drone in Lanfear's ranks.

Ignoring them for the moment, he looked to his side, silver eyes narrowing in pain as he eyed the trench in his side.  He spat out an oath in his mind, wishing that he were back to not feeling his wounds, as had been the case less than an hour earlier.  Hissing in vexation, he began to concentrate on closing the wound, eyes tightening with strain as the metal closed reluctantly, leaving a pale line where the tear had been.

Turning his attention back to more important issues than the scarring on his side, he lowered himself to the ground wearily, wishing he had time to rest.  It worried him that Akira wasn't with the others and that they didn't seem to know where he was judging from the frustration in Mouri's voice when he answered.  They had been trying to hide it from him, but he had seen Touma in the tree.  He hadn't shown that he had seen, not wanting to upset them further.  That relieved him all in itself.  Touma would be safer with them than with him.

Closing his eyes wearily for a moment, he began to consider ways to free the others.  He needed to get them out of their armors, but couldn't come up with any feasible way to do so.  Even if he figured out how to cast, he wasn't sure what would happen if he teleported them clear, leaving their armors behind.  Working with such precision when he either couldn't see what he was doing or had to work quickly was dangerous to say the least.  Their artificial links with the shadow armors might even hurt them if they were ripped free suddenly.

_Maybe if I capture them one at a time so I have time to work unhindered,_ he mused, swiveling his head unerringly south to where he could still feel their auras.  Wishing that there was another way, he sank into the ground and began his careful travel south, praying that Kento wouldn't sense his presence in the ground.

*     *     *

Lanfear paced back and forth irately, expression growing more vicious with every second that passed.  She froze suddenly, a cruel sneer appearing on her face as she teleported them back to the household she had first found them in.  Even after being trashed in numerous battles, she liked the place solely for the reason that it annoyed the Warlords and infuriated the Ronins to no end.

Seating herself comfortably on the devastated couch, she grinned at the others, forcing them all into submissive kneeling positions on the floor around her.  Nasus flopped into the reclining chair lazily, kicking Ryo over as he stretched insolently.

"Masters of fire, earth and light," Lanfear murmured, glancing at three of the Ronins with a superior smirk.  "And I'd be willing to bet that we have masters of wind, illusion and poison as well," she purred, prodding at Rowen, Dais and Sehkmet.  "I believe that the masters of the elements should serve me faithfully.  Don't you Nasus?"

"But of course.  I see no reason why the servants shouldn't obey," he drawled, smiling at the captured Ronins and Warlords.  "I believe that the sorcerers have talents of their own.  They're holding out on us," he called out softly, lips twisting upwards into an inhuman grin at some of the phrases directed at him.  "Kayura should have a staff of the Ancients, for starters."

"Yes, she should," Lanfear chuckled, eyes glinting maliciously.  "But I think that I should start with the strongest of the resistance.  Tell me, who do you think has the worst temper of the group?"

"That's easy.  Ryo or Sage undoubtedly.  Rowen should have been pretty high up the list, but he's damn near catatonic after seeing his wife and grandson destroyed and his only son mortally injured.  He must know what will happen to Touma for ripping free of a pentagram like that."

"Then should I start with the leader or the pretty boy?"

"The pretty boy, no contest.  I love how he howls when you shred him," Nasus murmured hungrily, eyes lighting up at the thought of one of their prisoners suffering.

Lanfear allowed a smile to form on her face when she felt Sage trying to buck against his armor, failing miserably.  Rolling to her feet, she placed one hand on his armored shoulder, banishing his armor almost completely, leaving only bands around his wrists, ankles and throat.  That was more than sufficient to hold him.

Breathing heavily in anticipation, Nasus flopped down on the couch to watch, smiling wider every time Sage managed to writhe slightly in protest.  Lanfear only smiled gently at his efforts, her eyes belying her otherwise sympathetic expression, which only resulted in him bucking more fiercely, unable to move past the bonds she had left holding him.

"Now," she breathed, drawing one claw across his chest, leaving behind a trail of blood as his one remaining eye grew wider.  "Will you, or will you not, use your elemental manipulation at my command?"

"You have to release his vocal cords," Nasus called out happily, grinning wider.  "It's more fun that way."

Only pausing to do as he suggested, she rounded on Sage once more.  "Well?" she prompted.  "Will you serve?"

Swallowing nervously and throwing a broken look over to the guys, he only managed to shake his head slightly in refusal.

"Too bad," she murmured, a small grin appearing on her lips.  "Be sure to tell me when you change your mind."

Bearing a full set of talons, she slashed him from throat to hip with a single claw, reveling in the slow torture.  To his credit, Sage only locked his jaw, refusing to give her the satisfaction of crying out in pain.  She chuckled softly.

She pulled one of his hands forward, laughing as he began straining against the armor with his mind, thinking that she couldn't tell unless he was actually breaking free.  Cupping his left hand in both of hers, she gripped the smallest finger almost gently before tightening her grip and snapping the finger with a sickening crack.  Sage grunted, his crystal blue eye growing murderous.  Not concerned, she moved onto the next, reveling in the sound of the breaking bones.  Once she finished with the fingers, she crushed the entirety of his hand, a barrage of cracking greeting her eager ears.  He only flinched slightly, grinding his teeth loudly.

Becoming bored with his forced indifference, she nicked his wrist with one claw, prying up a small flap of skin gently, watching his eye close in horror as he figured out what she was planning.  Gripping the small flap between her thumb and forefinger, she pulled her hand slowly away, the smile on her face growing wider and more vicious as the strip of skin moved slowly up his arm, blood running profusely from the tortured appendage and pooling on the floor at his feet.  Sage was trembling violently now, but his face still betrayed a streak of stubbornness that she fully intended to break.  She didn't stop the slow pulling of the strip until a line of skin was missing all the way up to his shoulder.  When she finally stopped, he let out the breath he had been holding, gasping softly as he tried to quell his shaking.

"Give in yet?" she breathed in his ear, giggling happily when he grated out a response in something less than a whisper.

"Fuck you."

Shrugging nonchalantly, she moved to stand behind him, placing her hands on his sides, smiling wider at his flinch.  She tightened her grip slowly, pausing for a moment when she heard his ribs creak in response to the abuse.  After a tense moment, a single crack resonated throughout the room, creating several flinches, Sage not among them.  She released her grip suddenly, moving back to listen to the soft rattle in his breathing.  Without missing a beat, she circled to stand in front of him, gripping his jaw fiercely to force him to open his mouth.  Reaching in with a thumb and forefinger, she pried a molar loose and ripped it free all in one fluid motion, grinning when Sage gagged on his tongue.  As she reached for another, he bit her, hard, depriving her of a finger.

Startled more than pained, Lanfear jerked her hand back, blinking at the stump of her index finger.  Just to torque him a bit further, she held up her hand for his inspection, regenerating her missing finger leisurely.

"Yet?" she queried tenderly.  For an answer, Sage spit her severed finger at her.  She quirked one eyebrow at him before shrugging.

"Can I try?" Nasus growled, eyes shining excitedly as he hovered by her side.  Lanfear only peered at him curiously before motioning to Sage and moving back to watch him work.  He began by shattering Sage's jaw, rumbling contentedly when bloody pieces of teeth slid from his mouth.

"Pace yourself," Lanfear called out softly.  "It's more fun that way."

"I have a better idea, though," he retorted, pushing one claw into Sage's stomach slowly and twisting it viciously.  He pulled back and to the side, effectively disemboweling the older man.  Sage groaned and slid to the floor, panting raggedly and whimpering softly in protest as Nasus continued to shred his innards.

Just before he lost consciousness, the cold talons pulled back, leaving him lying unmoving on the bloodied wood floor.  A cool sensation slid along his stomach, making him shiver slightly and try to pull back.  It took him a moment to realize that Lanfear was healing him.  Mortified of what this might mean, he tried to jump to his feet to run, only managing to lurch strangely to one side.

"This is how it's done," Lanfear whispered, placing both of her hands over his heart and summoning the blackest of flames to her hands.  In a matter of seconds, Sage's howls split the air as the true depths of torture began.

*     *     *

Mana covered her ears with her hands, trembling forcefully as she cried, clinging fiercely to Chimera.  She could hear Sage's cries clearly as he shrieked in agony, his mental howls resounding clearly in her mind.  She curled up tighter, wishing that there was something that she could do, hiccupping brokenly as she realized there wasn't.  Ella clung to Mia, crying loudly as the older woman rocked her gently, blessedly deaf to Sage's pain.  White Blaze nuzzled her worriedly.

Neris, Siellon and many of the more sensitive elves flinched in time with Sage's cries, all of them struggling to block the blood curdling cries from their minds.  As one, every head raised as the cries abruptly ceased, terrified of the implications.

*     *     *

Cye spat out a curse when Sage's cries first began to echo in his mind, pushing himself to greater speeds to get back to the house.  The ground softened around him abruptly, pushing him to speeds he had previously believed to be impossible.  As distracted as he was, it took him several seconds to realize that something had fallen in on either side of him.  He swore to himself and bared his claws, turning sharply to attack.

He lashed out to whatever was on his right, his claws passing through empty stone and missing the presence there, much to his irritation.  He tried again with no better luck.  Completely baffled, he turned his attention to the presence on his other side, collapsing the bubble and tackling its occupant, pulling them both to a halt and opening a new stone sphere around them.

Akira snarled at him furiously and took a wild snap at him with elongated teeth, leaving a small gash in Cye's shoulder.  Cye blinked and released him, moving back slightly in the sphere and sitting down, motioning for Akira to do the same.  After a few moments, Akira calmed enough to speak to him.

"Who, or what, are you?"

Unsure how to get his point across without being able to speak, Cye merely pointed to his throat and shook his head, praying that the boy would understand.  A sudden thought hit him and he began scrawling in the stone frantically, pointing demandingly when Akira only eyed him warily.  The boy finally peered over at the words curiously, eyes growing wider when he saw Cye's name etched clearly into the stone.

"Uncle Cye?" he breathed, eyes trembling slightly.  "My God, what did they do to you?"

Cye waved one clawed hand and shook his head slightly, pointing to himself and the direction they had been traveling, then to Akira and the other direction.

Akira made a face.  "I heard Sage too.  I can help."  Cye shook his head again and pointed north demandingly, eyes hardening.  They were both about to start in again with their sides of the argument when Sage's cries abruptly stopped.  Cye hissed and pointed north one last time before leaping into the stone and heading in the direction of the house.

Praying that Akira did what he was told, he surfaced in the living room, hoping Mia wouldn't kill him for further devastating the room.  Sage was lying quivering on the floor in a pool of blood, eyes glazed and panting shallowly.  Although he didn't move, the other nine captured armors in the room did, Lanfear and his old body falling in beside them.  Grinning, she waved them back and motioned his shell forward.

"Kill him, Nasus," she purred, eyes lighting up as she stepped back to watch the ensuing carnage.  Nasus smiled at her in gratitude and moved forward fluidly, cracking his knuckles and summoning obsidian fires to hand.  Cye immediately backpedaled, struggling to summon a magical defense of his own as he began dodging blows.

Lanfear laughed deep in her throat.  "This shouldn't take too long, boy.  The Child of Mouri is dying."

Cye choked slightly, looking at her numbly.  Dying?  How could he be dying?

She laughed louder.  "Didn't you know?  An inanimate object cannot house a soul for long.  Only your soul's strength is keeping you alive for the moment, but that will not last.  Metal cannot keep you alive, no matter what its magical strength.  Haven't you noticed that your powers are not working?  It's taking everything you have just to keep yourself in this plane of existence."

_You can hear me?_

"Of course I can hear you, fool.  I created the armor housing you.  It's still linked to me just enough to award me with clear access to your thoughts at this proximity."

Sending her a phrase in his mind that he was sure she wouldn't appreciate, Cye turned his attention back to the viable portion of her soul that she had placed in his body.  Nasus was waiting patiently on him to finish his conversation, grinning widely when they locked eyes once more.  The black flames around him rose higher, causing Cye to step back warily, looking towards the door longingly.

Taking what felt like an impossibly deep breath, he mixed elemental controls of fire and air to let out a plume of flame towards his opponent.  Nasus dropped the weave he was holding and leapt back, eyes wide and jaw hanging slack.

"I thought you said he didn't have any powers!"

"He doesn't," Lanfear snapped.  "That's just elemental control.  Counter him, Child of Date," she ordered sharply.

Cye paused and looked over at his currently unmoving friend, wondering what made her think that Sage would willingly fight him.  The fact that she had to order him to do it meant that he was in control of those powers, not her.  To his confusion and horror, Sage rolled to his feet, willingly summoning his armor and lashing out at him with a dagger of light, spinning lightly on his toes to follow him when he leapt out of the way.

"Are you nuts?!" Cye shrieked, lurching out of the way of another blow.  He froze, realizing suddenly that he had just spoken aloud.  He blinked his strangely liquid eyes and used a bit of concentration to force his features into something akin to a smile.  Straightening imperiously, he rounded on Nasus.  "Ieyenden mieris," he spat viciously.

Nasus froze in horror, looking up just in time to see a conflagration of power descending on him, slamming him through the floor and well into the ground as Cye watched with a satisfied smirk.  He didn't hesitate before rounding on Lanfear, who stood watching him with an incredulous expression.

"So the descendant of Mouri, Hashiba and Mieren sports more power than I originally believed," she muttered, straightening to her full height of nearly six and a half feet, expression strained.  Sage paused in his rampage for a moment as the other nine prisoners fell in beside him.

Twelve to one.  Cye looked at the door again, not overly thrilled about the odds, especially since he didn't really want to hurt at least seven of them.  The three sorcerers were expendable if it came down to it, but he couldn't bring himself to hurt his friends.  He wasn't sure what to do with Nasus even if he beat him.  It appeared if he killed the child of darkness, he would be doomed to die as well.  Looking at the floor brokenly, he began to spit out a spell that he knew he shouldn't use at this proximity to anyone.

"Allayendis dienden.  Kabadreis neda cumienden.  Allameis cabadros a den ama. Andien," he growled, looking up hesitantly in time to watch the others scattering, the sorcerers leading the retreat from the room.  It took him a shocked moment to realize that they were all temporarily free of Lanfear's control, fear pushing their resistance to new heights and shattering her restraining power.  A feral smile formed unwittingly on his face as he rounded leisurely on Lanfear, grinning insolently at the black energies she was summoning.  "Exodus," he whispered, concentrating the full force of the spell into a blast smaller than his fist.

Lanfear watched the blast approach her with an almost bored expression, slapping it back at him at the last moment.  Cye watched its path warily, snapping a second attack at her before volleying the first back towards its initial target.  He tacked on a third for good measure.  All three bursts of power were thrown back at him before Lanfear returned fire, adding an Exodus spell of her own.  Jaw gaping, Cye snagged his own spells out of the air, using their power to sling her shot away from himself.  Rather than throwing it at her like she would expect, he tossed the blast into the hole Nasus was currently trying to climb out of, spinning to make a run for it with the others.

Nasus made a choking noise before teleporting clear of the deadly spell, Lanfear following him in abandoning the blast site.  Cye slapped a shield over the area just before the weave hit, rolling clear as the shock wave from the blast shot past the teal dome easily.  Pushing himself to his feet wearily, he looked over to where the others had clustered, pooling their energies for protection from the spell.  Shaking his head wearily as he noticed their bright armors, Cye headed over towards them in stiff trot.

"What the hell were you doing, Sage?" he growled, settling down wearily.

"Trying to keep her from blasting me again.  You notice that I didn't hit you?" he growled defensively.

"What the hell does she mean that you're dying?" Kento demanded, pulling Cye around forcefully to lock eyes with him, indigo with liquid silver.

"You heard her," he murmured, looking away.  "She's right.  A soul cannot exist forever without a body.  The strength of this armor is helping me to remain in this plane of existence, but it won't hold out indefinitely."  He paused, looking thoughtful and trying to ignore the flinches from his friends at his casual acceptance of his death sentence.  "How did you guys get loose?"

"You scared the piss outta her by casting that," Sanada stated bluntly.  "I think that she believed you were almost completely defenseless without the element of surprise on your side."

"You freaked us out bad enough that we were able to break loose while she was distracted," Kento added.  "Adrenaline rules."

Rowen opened his mouth several times as though he wanted to say something but couldn't bring himself to do so.  Cye understood perfectly.  Now that they all knew who he was, no one was quite sure what to say to him.  Rowen's armor shimmered to a dark blue gray suddenly, flashing into a pure sapphire once more before he could do more than blink.  He cleared his throat roughly.  "You should go, Cye."

Nodding sadly, he glanced around the group one last time before turning slowly back to the trees, resisting the urge to look over his shoulder again.  It would only make leaving harder and he knew he couldn't stay.  Even as he vanished into the trees, flashes of light informed him that they had lost once more.

*     *     *

Gau nodded to himself as he saw the Warlords and sorcerers move into the trees now that the dragon had finally left, the one in the Armor of Hardrock carrying Touma.  Whatever that metal dragon had been doing, it didn't seem to be a threat.  It didn't fight then even when they attacked it first.  Sniffing loudly, he spun to head back to the group to report the current location of the group and the direction they were heading, trying to roughly gage their speed.

He had barely turned to head back when Sage's mental cries first echoed in his mind, causing him to freeze in horror and slump to the ground brokenly.

"Dad," he breathed, eyes misting as he forced himself to ignore his father's cries and head back to camp.

*     *     *

Akira sat on the forest's edge, staring forlornly at the Sanada household with dull eyes.  Cye had made it perfectly clear that he was not to help.  He sighed loudly and buried his face in his hands, wondering if he should turn back to tell the others about what had happened to Cye so they wouldn't mistakenly hurt him.  He had barely regained his feet and turned to the shadows when a shock wave approached him from behind, a blinding flash of light following immediately in its wake.  As the searing light cleared, only a charred crater remained where the eastern-most part of the house had been, clearing out most of the fields and a great deal of trees.  In the charred remains of the surroundings, Akira was nowhere to be seen.

To Be Continued…

Books are knowledge.  Knowledge is power.  Power corrupts.  Corruption is bad.  Study hard.  Be evil.

R&R!


	7. Part 7

Dragon Wars

Part 7

By Mieren

Nasus reappeared near the blast's outer edge as the last of the rolling energies died out, leaving only a painful resonance echoing in the air.  Something a little ways behind him rustled slightly, sending him spinning on his toes, arms raised defensively.  He blinked in shock, not seeing anything for a moment.  His eyes narrowed slowly as he sharpened his vision, intent on finding whatever was out there.  If it was Cye, he had better hide if he knew what was good for him.  He was not at all pleased with that little stunt he had pulled leveling the Exodus blast at him when he wasn't even involved in that battle.

His crimson eyes instead focused on a furry shape crouching in a nearby crack in the ground created by the spell's shock wave.  Nasus blinked in confusion.  A wolf?  He had barely seen it when the sleek brown beast leapt to its feet and spun to vanish into the trees at an inconceivable pace.  Shrugging, he was about to turn back to the task at hand of finding that damn descendant of Mouri, Hashiba and Mieren.  As he spun lightly to leave, something in the corner of his eye caught his attention, making him stiffen in shock.  That wolf had wings.

Cursing at himself for not seeing it earlier, he launched himself after the small form as it cleared a nearby hill, pushing himself fiercely to catch the thing.  A set of garnet eyes glanced back at him for an instant before the beast upped its speed, pulling away from him suddenly just before he came within grasping distance of its tail.  Eyes bulging, he launched himself into the air, landing lightly in front of the charging form that barely managed to skid to a halt before slamming into him.  He briefly considered the speed of the Sanada line and noted that wolf in front of him looked suspiciously like Ryo in his demonic form.

"You're Ryo's kid, right?" Nasus panted, seating himself more comfortably and patting the ground beside him.  The garnet eyes blinked at him suspiciously.  "Come on.  I don't bite, you know."

Backing away a few paces, the deep brown wolf tentatively lowered itself to the ground, shifting into a little girl after a moment's debate.  Nasus didn't hesitate before shucking his shirt and handing it to naked girl, smiling gently.

"What's going on?" she asked softly, yanking the oversized shirt over her head.

"Lanfear cast a spell that almost hit me.  I teleported clear," he said honestly, not wanting to test the girl's innate abilities.  She might be able to sense a lie.

"Why were you chasing me?"

"Well, its not everyday that you see a wolf with wings," he murmured ruefully.

Somewhat mollified, but not entirely, she continued.  "How did you get away?"

"I teleported before the blast hit me," he answered evasively, knowing that's not what she meant.  He hadn't thought of a reasonable explanation as of yet.

"I mean before."

"It's a really long story.  It comes down to how stubborn you decide to be and if you have the strength to back it up," he said softly, scrubbing longish russet hair out of his eyes.  The girl was smarter than he had originally thought and proved it in her next question.

"Couldn't anyone say that?"

Damn.  She had figured it out already.  Either he or Cye could say that honestly and she had realized it faster than he would have liked.  To cover himself, he laughed lightly and ruffled her hair.  He couldn't have her running off without him and there was no advantage to be gained by killing her yet.  She knew where the others were.

"What did you say your name was again?  I can't seem to remember."

She made a face at him.  "Nasuti."

"That's right," he murmured, trying to look thoughtful.  "Which way is it to the others?  I haven't seen them since I escaped."

Nasuti stared at him in consideration for a moment before shrugging and shifting into a deep brown wolf once again, tossing his shirt back after a moment.  Nasus snagged the garment out of the air and began in a slow lope to keep up with her.  Seeing him still behind her, she nodded and slowly began to speed up, occasionally glancing back at him.  Without warning, she leapt into a full sprint, surpassing the speed records she had set when he had first started chasing her, quickly leaving him behind and straining to vanish into the trees.  Making a face, Nasus assumed his dragon form to keep up, still straining to match the little girl's impossible speeds.

She winked out of his view suddenly, making his eyes bulge.  Surely she couldn't be _that_ fast.  Could she?  He skidded to a halt in the last place he had seen her, looking around carefully.  It took him a few moments and the help of his infrared vision to spot her where she crouched in the bushes not far from him.  He chuckled softly and plopped down beside her, winking at her when he saw her tense.

"You'll have to slow down a bit," he said softly.  "I'm old and slow.  I can't keep up with you if you keep doing that, Nasuti."

He didn't know it, but he had unwittingly stumbled on the phrase that Sage had used when teasing the Warlords at the reunion.  He had been trying only to find something that sounded like what Cye would say.  Nasuti blinked at him in shock and gave him a considering look before grinning weakly.

"Sorry," she mumbled contritely, pushing herself slowly to her feet and beginning a more reasonable lope back towards the others, not seeing Nasus's vicious smirk.

_Stupid girl,_ he thought softly, loping after her effortlessly as she headed down trails that only she could see.

*     *     *

Nasuti glanced over her shoulder as she ran.  He may look like Cye and sound like him, but it didn't _feel_ like him.  He had used the same phrase that her uncles had back at the party while teasing one another, but there was a hostile undertone to his joking that her Uncle Cye would never have if what her father said was true.  Cye was supposed to be the kindest and most reserved of the Ronins.  As nice as he was acting, there was something distinctly menacing about him, a taint plaguing his aura.  She had tried to ditch him, but he was too fast.  The only thing she could do now was to pretend to be docile until she got back to the others.  Whoever this was, they should be able to defeat him as a group.  She wouldn't even be leading him back, but she had neither the strength nor skill to beat him and seriously doubted that she could outdistance him.  She would have simply refused to go anywhere, but she feared for her safety.  He would hurt her if she kept this up and she knew it.

*     *     *

Seeing movement heading in the direction of camp, Gau froze and hunkered down in place on the trails, watching everything around him carefully.  Nasuti strode in from the south, eyes wild and someone that looked frighteningly like Cye on her heels.  Gau stiffened.  Whoever that was, it was _not_ Cye.  His aura was completely wrong.

Stifling a snarl as it rose in his throat, he called to Ella in his mind, praying that she could hear him.  He knew that his parents and uncles could all speak telepathically, but had never tried it himself and wasn't sure exactly what he was supposed to do.  He took a deep steadying breath and was about to try again when he received a tentative response.

_Gau?  Is that you?_

Exhaling roughly in relief, he sent a confirmation.  _Yea, it's me.  Listen.  You need to get Aunt Mia, Mana, and Nasuti out of there.  Tell the elves to kill the guy following Nasuti._

_Why?_

_Because that isn't Cye!_

There was a slight pause as Ella turned to check on what he had told her, a confirmation following after a few seconds.  He could only wait tensely as everything unfolded before his disbelieving eyes.

*     *     *

Neris leaned back tensely as a few more scouts filtered into camp, running up to him to report what they had seen.  Cliffs to the northeast, but nothing else of interest.  Forests and plains intermixed to the north, the beginnings of a mountain range if you went far enough out.  Heavy footprints speaking of armor, but no trace of the wearers.  Endless forests to the west and south.  An explosion at the house and no sign of where Lanfear or her captives had gotten off to.  The metallic dragon they had seen earlier running from the blast site, disappearing into the woods without a trace.

He sighed noisily, trying not to grind his teeth.  They needed to know where everyone was, but couldn't seem to locate anyone no matter how they looked.  He perked up immediately when Nasuti came out of the trees, Cye following right behind her with a pleased grin on his face.  He was about to run over to greet them when Ella snagged his hand and jerked his arm forcefully, looking up at him with wild eyes.  Baffled, he knelt down to see what had her in such a frenzy that she would come to him.  She had been avoiding all of them as much as she had been able to manage so far.  Cye could wait for a second or two.

"Kill him," she hissed, pushing on when he blinked in shock.  "That isn't Cye."

Neris raised his head casually to look over to the auburn-haired man almost unconcernedly, trying not to stare outright.  "How can you tell?" he asked softly.

"Gau told me."

"Gau?"

"He's hiding.  He said that whoever that is, it isn't Cye.  His aura's wrong," she whispered, pulling away from him to run lightly over to Nasuti, forcing a grin onto her face as she neared the other girl, waving happily and trying to entice her to come play a game.  Nasuti nodded happily and followed the older girl back to where Mia and Mana had been standing, both of them already having slunk off at her warning.  She shot him a meaningful glance and she trotted by him almost leisurely, but he saw the tension through her legs and back as she moved.  He noted that both great cats had their ears flattened to their heads as they silently followed the girls.  That was all the confirmation he needed.

Nodding slightly to himself and thanking the light for Gau's warning and Ella's intelligence in getting Nasuti out of the line of fire, he straightened his head imperiously and waved to Cye with his thumb sticking slightly to the side.  He silently thanked whoever had trained the elves that had come with him when every last one of them snapped to attention with their eyes alone, awaiting further instruction.  Praying that whoever the imposter was didn't know the elfin hand language, he scrubbed one eye as he moved forward, signaling to the others that the person he was approaching was not who he appeared to be.  Continuing with the gesture, he pushed the pale blue hair out of his eyes, keeping the smallest finger on his left hand firmly raised, signaling the archers to ready themselves.  He carefully noted that Siellon was nowhere to be seen, forcing himself not to scan the trees for where he knew his friend was hiding, throwing signals to the others.

He tried not to stiffen as he moved closer to the doppelganger, reaching out as though to offer a friendly handshake.  Somewhere from a nearby tree came the cry of a red hawk made to sound as though it were far in the distance.  At the sound, he flattened himself to the ground, arrows whizzing by his form even as he was in the process of falling.  He never flinched as the projectiles flew by his face and chest, knowing the skill of those who had come with him.  More than two dozen arrows had found their target before he ever contacted the dirt, rolling clear as several dozen more projectiles followed the first round, each striking home.

The pincushion that looked exactly like Cye staggered slightly, eyes flashing from sea blue to crimson to obsidian, black flames rising around him instantly.  A shield sprang up around him just before the third round of arrows reached him, turning aside the barbed shafts at the last second, each heading unerringly back towards its origin.  Several elves screamed.  A blast of black energy was blocked from slamming into Neris inches from his face as it contacted and rolled around a shimmering violet dome.

Cye's look-alike spun furiously, lashing out at a nearby tree, his blast knocking the dark elf free from his tentative perch in the limbs.  Neris could only watch as his friend fought an impossible battle.  He had grown stronger since turning to the lighter magics some twenty years ago, but even with as strong as Siellon was, he couldn't last for more than a few minutes at best.  His abilities in the light arts were substantially weaker than his opponent's in the dark.

Unable to watch his friend be slaughtered in a hopeless battle, he drew his single sword, eyeing the archaic runes on the blade hopefully as he charged forward, praying that the ancient magic used to make the blade would be strong enough to unravel the weaves thrown at him.  Slashing at the double in passing, he positioned himself firmly in front of his wobbling friend and raised his sword defensively, more than slightly unnerved by the smirk appearing on his opponent's face as he began to chant.

_"Allayendis dienden.  Kabadreis neda cumienden.  Allameis cabadros a den ama.  Andien!  Exodus!"_

Eyes bulging, he threw up his sword hopelessly.  He barely had time to lock his muscles in agony against the blinding flash of light before the world went black.

*     *     *

The group staggered to a halt as Mouri stopped dead in his tracks, eyes glazing suddenly.  Fung gently lowered Touma to the ground as the two Warlords eyed him in askance.  Mouri looked to the heavens suddenly, eyes sliding shut of their own accord as he breathed a single word into the silence as the aftershocks of a forbidden spell echoed through the air for the third time that day.

"Exodus."

Jaws gaping, the others could only watch as he silently teleported in a swirl of teal flames.  Shaking his head slowly, Fung lifted the still unconscious Touma across his shoulders and began moving once more, knowing that there was no point in waiting on his friend.  The two Warlords only hesitated a moment before following him brokenly.

*     *     *

Twin flashes of teal light shattered the stillness in the scorched crater in the ground where there had once stood thick trees at a cliff's edge.  Mouri looked up frantically as the echoing light flashed in his view a mere few paces in front of him, a metallic blue dragon looking around slowly, blinking strangely liquid eyes.

Snarling loudly, he lashed out at the target, hissing in frustration when his attack was blocked easily, almost in irritation.  Swirling silver eyes locked on him instantly.

"Would you stop that?" it growled, looking unerringly to the patch of clear ground directly in the center of the crater.

"Who are you?" he snapped, reading another spell even as he spoke.

There was a slight hesitation before he received an answer.  "Cye."

The spell turned to ashes in Mouri's hands, his eyes widening slightly.  "Impossible," he grated out, hardening his features forcefully into a scowl and struggling to keep the quaver out of his voice.

"You saw Nasus, did you not?"

Child of the darkness.  Mouri cringed and nodded weakly, trying not to stare at his descendant with pitying eyes.

"How?" he asked slowly, his voice cracking on the single syllable.  Cye only glanced at him before looking back to the resonance of a teleportation weave that still shimmered in the air.

"You already know the methods for doing something like that," he answered stiffly, refusing to look over at the trembling elf.  "It appears that I was simply fighting back too hard and it made her mad."

Mouri shook his head firmly in denial.  "That shouldn't have worked.  A soul cannot be transferred into an inanimate object."

"She didn't do that.  I did."

He could feel all the blood draining from his face as he realized the full extent of what his descendant had been through, licking his lips absently before continuing, purposely changing the subject.  "Where did he go?"

Cye looked over at him, one corner of his mouth twisting upwards in something akin to a smile.  "He went back to Lanfear, naturally.  He just gave everyone's positions away."  The smile faded into something almost like a grimace, his expressions hard to judge since metal did not move as fluidly as skin would.  "A lot of people were here.  Elves, to be specific.  Mia, my mother and the children too.  I can't tell if anyone got away," he whispered, closing his eyes and exhaling softly.  "Many didn't."

Mouri looked around slowly, seeing nothing but the charred grounds.  "How can you tell?"

"I can smell them," he murmured, turning away slowly to head for the trees.  He froze when he heard Mouri start after him.  "Go back to the others."

Without waiting for confirmation, he leapt into the air, unfurling long, thin wings and working them furiously.  The thin metal rippled in the air as the wings expanded to support his weight, lifting him slowly into the cloud cover.

Sighing, Mouri began to search the fields extensively, intent on finding something he could use to his advantage.  After looking around for a few minutes, he located two bodies near the center of the blast, both nearing the point of total incineration.  He grimaced, about to move on when he noticed that one was moving.  It was still alive.

Breathing heavily, he placed one trembling hand on the nearest of the two forms, jerking his fingers back when it flinched away from him, swearing loudly and struggling to get up.

Not sure what else to do, he gently eased the charred form off of the ground, blinking in shock when he saw that only the backside of the elf was charred beyond recognition.  Dull silver eyes clouded in pain looked over at him, mostly melted pale blue hair clinging to parts of his face.  Seeing him, he hissed angrily and tried to jerk back, falling over his companion in doing so.

"Light," Mouri breathed.  "How did you survive that, young cousin?"

Shocked silver eyes locked with his own instantly before studying his subarmor uncertainly.  "Cye?"

He only shook his head slowly.  "Mouri of the Starlight," he corrected softly, unwittingly adding his origins out of age-old habit.  He instantly realized what he had said when the silver eyes nearly bulged out of the elf's head.  He looked to the other form on the ground when it jerked slightly at the sound of his name, gently pulling him upright.  He nearly had a seizure when he saw the crimson eyes of a dark elf looking back at him, yanking his hands back as though scolded.  An equally startled dark elf lurched stiffly away from him, eyes wide.

"How did you survive at this range?" he asked again, trying to take their minds off the shock of seeing him.

The light elf was the first to recover, snagging a single sword out of the ashes and holding it up so that the runes could be seen clearly.  Mouri blinked in shock.

"Well, well," he murmured, gently taking the blade from the horribly scorched light elf and settling down on the charred earth beside him.  "I recognize this.  A sword of the guardians.  Where did you get this?"

"It's been in the family for over thirty generations," he murmured warily, still eyeing him sideways and looking like he wanted to bolt.  Mouri nodded slowly, understanding suddenly how they were still alive.  Anything with runes made by the guardians was specially designed to unravel and destroy magic used in combat.

Mouri smiled gently, determined to get the two surviving elves to calm down a bit so he could speak to them about more important matters.  "What name was given you in the stars of your birth?"

The light elf blinked at the ancient phrase, relaxing slightly.  "Neris Kilumen," he murmured, poking the dark elf in the ribs gently.  He grunted and grudgingly gave his name, making a face at his friend.

"Siellon Naymura," he mumbled.

Neris grinned at him suddenly.  "Where are the others?" he asked softly.

Mouri jumped slightly, blinking in shock.  "What?"

"The others," he repeated, eyes growing worried.  "Date, Hashiba, Sanada and Fung.  Mieren called them too, didn't she?"

At a loss for words, he only nodded numbly.  "She did, but…"

"But," Siellon instantly prompted, exchanging a worried glance with his friend.

He opened his mouth to answer but was cut short as Mana, Mia and three children came out of the trees riding two great cats, all of them but Mia radiating magical energies.  They must have pooled their powers to withstand the blast, he figured.  They were probably the ones to have explained the presence of the others to the elves as well.

The blond boy and black-haired girl immediately moved over to the elves and began healing them, slowly but surely.  They were of the Date bloodline, there was no doubt about that.

"What's going on?" Mia demanded, temper flaring to match her husband's at its absolute worst.  Mouri flinched before answering.

"Mieren is gone and almost everyone in armor beside myself and Fung have been captured.  We have two of the Warlords on our side, but they're almost completely helpless.   Touma is severely injured and we can't do anything for him.  Akira was acting weird for awhile and now we can't find him.  He ditched us around an hour ago and we don't know where he went, but we think it was to look for Cye."

"And where is Cye?" Mana snapped, eyes flashing.  "If Akira was looking for him, that means he wasn't captured.  Where is he?"

Swallowing hard and trying not to make eye contact, he answered as evasively as he could.  "He's still fighting, but he made it clear that I'm to stay out of his way."

"You were talking to him a moment ago, were you not?" Siellon asked slowly, crimson eyes narrowing.

"Yes," he admitted carefully.  "He told me to go back to the others, remember?"

The two elves exchanged guarded looks before nodding.  He tried not to cringe at the expressions on their faces.  They knew he was hiding something, just not what.  He decided to forestall them before they had a chance to ask anything further.

"We should find where I left the others," he said firmly, decidedly not wanting to answer any more questions.  The looks he received from the elves told him that they understood.  They had heard his conversation with Cye, after all.

Sage's son made a face at him, gnawing his lower lip forcefully as he alternately looked at him and the elves he was currently healing.  He cleared his throat softly.

_"How bad is it?"_ he asked softly.  Mouri nearly jumped out of his skin.

"The bloodlines certainly run strong," he muttered, trying to evade the question.  From the stern look that appeared on the boy's face, he knew that he wasn't going to be able to keep this up forever.  He briefly wondered how long he could speak to the boy in his native tongue before the others got mad.  Unless they could understand him, that was.  Judging by their mixed expressions of confusion and irritation, however, he was guessing that they couldn't.  _"Very.  Something happened to Cye that you can't tell Mana about.  Understand, Child of Date?"_

The little blond boy made a face at him.  _"My name is Gau.  I won't tell, but I need to know so I can tell what we're doing."_

_"Ah,"_ Mouri murmured, shooting an irritated glare at the two mostly healed elves.  They should have told him that the boy had inherited Date's uncanny abilities as a tactician as well as his healing abilities.  His look told them plain and simple that they were not to repeat this to anyone for any reason.  They both swallowed and ducked their heads submissively.  Mollified somewhat, he waited for Gau to nod acquiescence before continuing.  _"Cye's soul was kicked out of his body.  He's now running around in the form of a metal dragon."_

During his short explanation of what had happened, the boy's eyes grew ever wider until they were near bulging.  _"That was him?"_ he asked incredulously.  _"Then why were you attacking him when he was only sitting there?"_

Mouri jumped.  _"We didn't know it was him.  Humph.  I thought someone was watching us.  Never would have imagined it was you, though."_

_"Where is he?"_

_"I think he went to fight, but I'm not sure."_

_"He didn't teleport or you would know,"_ Gau mused, eyes narrowing in thought.  _"That means that he either left by land or air.  Which was it?"_

_"Air,"_ he mumbled incredulously.  Just how old was this boy?  The boy looked like he was about eight or nine, but he had never been good at guessing human ages.  Trying to refrain from sighing, he glanced at the cloud cover with a considering gaze.  _"I believe that he went back to the house, if I had to guess.  Does that help, Child of… um… Gau?"_

Sniffing softly when he was nearly called by his ancestor's name, he looked at the clouds himself, eyes narrowing.  _"Some.  I'll work on it.  Where are the others?"_

Nodding to himself and mentally thanking the light for sending him an ally from the Date bloodline, he pushed himself stiffly to his feet and began casting, snapping open an untraceable portal just a few paces from them.  Neris scrawled a few angular symbols in the charred earth when Mouri moved over to him, shrugging resignedly at the sorcerer's questioning look.  Helping the elves onto the backs of the two great cats, he started towards the gateway, Gau instantly falling in behind him.  Threatened with abandonment, the two highly irked women fell in behind him with sour expressions, each of them with a girl in tow.

They emerged in a small clearing, colored stone shards lying in a pile beside a tree, sections of a shell remaining.  Gau perked up instantly, poking at the pieces of stone with great interest, pale blue eyes shining.  Lifting a few of the larger pieces in his hands, he began looking at the ground, a smile appearing on his mouth.

"So this is how he got away," he drawled, giggling to himself.  "Neat."

Mouri made a face.  "We didn't think it was so neat," he grumped.

"What exactly were you two talking about?" Mana asked too sweetly, clamping one hand on his shoulder in a vice-like grip.  Mouri was suddenly glad that he was wearing subarmor seeing as how he could feel her grasp on his shoulder even through the heavily enchanted metal.

"Just some planning," he said quickly, refusing to look up from the surrounding trees as he tried to avoid her fiery gaze.

"Then why did you mention Cye's name?" she snarled, spinning him around.

"Asking about where he went," he said slowly, pulling free gently and pushing onwards down the path he and Fung had taken, seeing no signs of Akira.  Gau caught his arm and shook his head.

"This is too slow."

"I'm not sure exactly where the others are and don't want to risk teleporting on top of them."

"Or possible wardings in the area," Gau tacked on, making a face.  "We still have to go faster," he grumped, looking back at the others with a considering expression.  "Neris, get on Chimera with Siellon.  Mia, Mana, and Ella.  I want you three to get on White Blaze.  He's bigger and should be able to work with the added weight.  Nasuti, follow suit," he called out softly, shifting into a dark gold wolf and waiting for the brunette to do the same.  He nodded sharply and started forward, motioning for his head for Mouri to take the lead.

Scrubbing one armored hand through his russet locks, Mouri shook his head and took point, not bothering to look back at the others as he ran lightly through the trees.  As things stood now, he was possibly the slowest of the group.  They would have no problems keeping up with him.

*     *     *

Akira opened his eyes slowly, confused by the molten earth surrounding him.  The last thing he remembered was a flash of light and a wave of incinerating heat approaching him at a devastating speed.  He swallowed nervously when he noticed for the first time that there was no air bubble around him, wondering nervously if he had survived the blast.

You survived, young earth master.

Eyes snapping fully open, Akira began looking around wildly.  _Who are you?_

I am not of the light or the dark.  I am what I am.

_Back to that, are you?_ he grumped, eyes narrowing.  _Can't you ever give a straight answer?_

I answer what I know and nothing more.

_Would you stop with the riddles?_

Ask me what you wish, and I shall answer what I know and nothing more.

Hissing in vexation, Akira decided to ignore the cryptic responses and get a few answers if he possibly could.  _Why can I breathe here?_

You do not need to.  You are an earth master, young one.

_Okay.  Where are the others?_

Others?  To whom do you refer?

_Mouri and Fung._

They are to the north and northeast.

_They're not together?  Who all is with them?_

The weak earth master carries another and is followed by two in armor.  The ancient water master is followed by two great cats, two elves, two women and three child demons.

_What about Cye?_

I do not know this Cye.

_He was traveling underground only a moment ago.  He's the metal dragon, remember?_

You refer to the Lost One.  No, young earth master, I do not know where he is.

_Are you even trying?_ Akira snapped, completely out of patience.  _You told me once before to wait, that help was coming.  You told me when he was overpowered and forced to retreat.  I know you can sense him._

Only when he is in a place where can I sense him.

Growling about the frustration of not being able to find Cye, Akira had the earth move him forward, shocked as the speeds he was attaining so easily.  Shrugging unconcernedly, he moved towards where he could now feel the larger of the two groups, intent on leading them to the others.  It only took him a few moments to reach the site.

He surfaced suddenly, crying out sharply when he was nearly run down by an armored Mouri and two wolves.  The two great cats following them swerved gracefully to avoid running into him, their passengers clinging to them for dear life.  He was about to open his mouth when Mouri rounded on him, sea blue eyes flashing angrily as he readied a blast.  White Blaze and Chimera both immediately leapt in his way, much to Akira's relief.  Mouri only blinked in shock and squinted strangely.

"Akira?" he asked hesitantly, cocking his head slightly to the side.

"Yea?"

"What the hell did you do?"

Akira blinked at him in confusion before glancing at himself to see what had the ancient sorcerer so worked up.  He froze.  Not only was he in his panther form, but his entire body was covered in a thin stone shell decorated with ridges and spikes that stuck out at deadly angles.  There were strange creases and evidence of layering at each of his joints, allowing for free, unhindered movement.  His hind feet sported strange stone outcroppings that served as heels, explaining instantly why he was able to stand upright so easily.  Judging by the minimal weight on his head, he was guessing that he was sporting a helmet of some sort as well.  The balance told him that it had two horns on either side as well as a row of spikes running down the center.  Ever so slowly, a smile formed on his face.

"I think I formed myself a suit of armor," he said slowly, his grin growing wider.  Looking around to meet the incredulous looks being leveled on him, he chuckled softly and plopped onto the ground beside two wolves, one sporting wings.  "I see that you two figured it out without my help."

"It wasn't that hard," Gau said carefully, cocking his head to the side and blinking vivid gold eyes.  Nasuti only grinned.

"As interesting as this is, don't you think we need to get moving?" Siellon interrupted, waving one partially burnt hand to catch their attention.  Akira only raised one eyebrow at him.

"You guys are trying to find Fung and Touma, right?" he asked, not waiting for the answering nods.  "Come on, we can travel faster underground."  Suiting words to action, he sank them all into the ground, forming a largish sphere of air around them as he willed the ground to move them more quickly.

As they moved along silently, Akira became increasingly agitated, wondering what he should tell the others.  He had seen Cye, but was not overly thrilled about saying anything in Mana's hearing range.  There was no telling how she would respond.  She seemed to recognize his expression and rounded on him accordingly.

"Akira, have you seen Cye?" she asked suddenly.  He stiffened slightly.

"Yea," he said cautiously, swallowing thickly.  "Last I saw, he was heading towards the house when we heard Sage screaming.  He made it clear that I was to stay out of the way while he fought."

Mana opened her mouth to ask him something, but he quickly forestalled her by surfacing suddenly.  Anubis and Cale promptly tried to hide behind each other while Fung jumped almost six feet into the air, nearly dropping Touma in his surprise.

"Damn it, Mouri!" Fung snapped.  "Find a better way to appear!  You nearly gave me a heart attack!  I thought you were one of the others!"  He paused in his tirade, blinking numbly at the others that had appeared with him.  He scowled instantly.  "Akira, you know I have to kick your ass for running off like that, right?"

He moved forward to carry out his threat, but was instantly blocked by two wolves, both of them snarling angrily.  As one, they blinked in shock and backed off when Akira began to chuckle softly.

"Try it and see what it gets you," he smirked, poking at his new armor curiously and grinning wider.  "I think I'm pretty safe from any such nonsense now."

Fung frowned at him before snorting loudly and rolling his eyes.  "Light incinerate me if stubbornness and a limitless ego don't run in my family," he muttered, grinning suddenly.  "Tell me, can form the same armor for everyone else?"

Without bothering to ask, Akira formed the swirling stone around Gau, the boy standing perfectly still as the molten rock solidified around him.  He grunted loudly when Akira released the control of the stone, his legs slowly splaying until he was resting his stomach on the ground.  He rolled his eyes to look at the confused expressions of the others.

"This thing is heavy," he complained, glaring angrily at Akira, who jerked in shock at the statement.

"It is not!" he cried out.  "It doesn't weigh anything."

Mouri rolled his eyes and intervened before the argument could continue.  "As an earth master and a descendant of the Fung line, you're unnaturally strong and can control the stone around you unconsciously.  Naturally it wouldn't weigh anything to you."

Grimacing contritely, Akira banished the stone around the Gau, looking around innocently when the deep golden wolf that was his friend glared at him angrily.

"If you want armor that doesn't weigh anything, you'll have to form it out of something that doesn't have weight," the younger boy growled.  "Mouri, isn't my father a master of light?"  Mouri nodded instantly and grinned, seeing where the boy was going and once again thanking the light for sending a Date to his side.  Gau smirked at the others.  "This is how it's done."

The area around him glittered suddenly with an unnatural light, strands of the shimmering illumination solidifying around him piece by piece.  A disbelieving smile appeared on Akira's face as Gau continued to work, pieces of armor swirling through dozens of shades of green appearing around him.  As he finished, the impossible brightness in the shade of the trees faded, leaving a suit of barely opaque crystalline armor covering him entirely.  Ella smiled and mimicked him instantly, creating herself a suit of armor in her own colors of amber, pale gold, and several shades of light brown.

"Now the women and two elves," Mouri called out happily, prodding at the stunning armor of solidified light surrounding Ella.

"Would you like it in your own colors?" he asked the elves wryly, eyes sparkling.  At the suggestion, Akira snickered and shifted the pale grays and browns of his armor into swirling golds and deep oranges that intermingled in incredible patterns.  Gau smirked at his display as he turned back to the others.

Mana pushed by them as they worked to pull Touma gently out of Fung's grasp from where he was still holding the unconscious man.  She didn't hesitate before doubling back to snag Ella and claim her services.  Amber flames leapt about her as she worked, closing the deep gash in his ribs that the sorcerers and Warlords had only been able to bandage.  Anubis and Cale hovered at her shoulder as she worked, watching raptly as the skin closed slowly, the redness fading into a pale white scar that spanned his ribcage.  Mana nodded happily and pulled him to a sitting position when the girl finished, shaking him gently as she tried to force him to awaken.

Touma groaned softly, bringing the others to gather around him, everyone still fingering their new armor with the exception of Chimera and White Blaze, both of which sported black armor with vivid silver swirls and accents.  Mia and Nasuti both sported red armors, the latter's in deeper shades of crimson and garnet than the former.  Mana gasped as Gau continued his work on her, the colors around her moving through several shades of pale blue accented by white.  Siellon wore deep violet with gold edging on the plating and occasional jagged streaks shooting across the otherwise solid coloration.  Neris seemed to be sporting pale blue and silver armor that exactly matched his hair and eyes.

When his eyes finally fluttered open, Touma promptly freaked.  Blue and silver flames rose around him, swirls of white and colorless light appearing in the flickering power he was holding.  Mana yanked off her helmet and moved forward to calm him down instantly, snagging his mind in her own as she struggled to explain what was going on before he completely snapped.  As she continued, he slowly relaxed and dropped the powers around him, blank silver eyes studying them each in turn.

"Where's Cye?" he asked suddenly, speaking for the first time since waking.

"We don't know his exact location at the moment," Mouri answered quickly.  "But we know that he's still up and fighting."  Akira must have winced, because the elfin sorcerer glanced at him out of the corner of one sea blue eye, his hard expression telling him that he was to remain silent.  Akira wasn't about to object.  He didn't want to be the one to tell either Mana or Touma.  He wasn't wild about the idea of telling anyone what he knew for that matter.

At his statement, Anubis jerked sharply.  "How do you know that?"

"I talked to him on that last battlefield," he answered carefully.  "He left before I could ask him very much."

Anubis was no longer paying attention to him, instead fishing around in his subarmor for the two halves to the ring that had shattered.  They all stared incredulously when he brought out the two pieces and summoned his staff once more.  The black half of the ring had regenerated its other half and had completely closed into a pure obsidian loop that seemed to draw in any light near it.  The other half had bent horribly and the two ends were coming close to touching one another, occasional turquoise flames licking the golden metal around the ends.

Swallowing nervously, he held up the pieces for everyone to see clearly.  Mouri made a face and grabbed the black ring from him, prodding it with teal blue flames relentlessly while Anubis continued to look at the closing gold band.  Touma yanked both the staff and the ring out of his hands, pushing the ring back into place with the others and forcing the ends together roughly.  Teal flames rose where the ends of the metal met, forcing the ring to close completely and healing the tear as if it never were.  If not for the diminished size of the ring, it would have been impossible to tell it had ever been broken.

"What does this mean?" Anubis breathed, eyes widening as he looked to the black ring that the elf was still toying with.  He looked around the group quickly, making a face when he noticed that neither Akira nor Mouri would meet his gaze.  His expression hardened.  "What do you two know?"

Mouri handed the black ring back to him instantly and adopted an innocent expression, Akira following his example perfectly.  Mana's gaze turned absolutely murderous as she and Touma advanced on the two.  Sighing loudly, Mouri threw a despairing look to Akira as he started to explain, thankfully sparing the boy of the grisly task of informing the two that their only son was slowly dying.

To Be Continued…

The best way to prevent a hangover is to stay drunk.

R&R!


	8. Part 8

Dragon Wars

Part 8

By Mieren

Cye gasped out suddenly and plummeted from the air.  He would have crashed forcefully into the ground had it not opened at the last moment to allow him a soft landing, raising him to the surface gently when he was unable to do little more than convulse helplessly.  It felt like something inside of him had just been shredded and tied roughly into a knot.

Nasus appeared beside him suddenly, grinning maliciously as he juggled multiple spheres of black energies.

"Does it hurt, Torrent?" he sneered, prodding him with one booted toe.  Cye glared at him angrily, trying to stand to face him but unable to do more than twitch feebly and glower heatedly.  Allowing the magic spheres to vanish, the body snatcher calmly sat down just in front of him and began toying with a few longish blades of grass.  "How does it feel to know that your soul is unraveling?  That you're dying?  Hmm?"

"Leave me alone," Cye managed to grate out, lurching away from Lanfear's son slightly so he could lock eyes with the shadow's spawn.  Nasus moved back to watch him curiously, making no move to attack as he tried to regain his feet and failed.

Cye watched, baffled, as Nasus helped pull him to his feet, eyeing him warily and backing off before he truly regained his balance.

Sighing loudly, Nasus lowered himself to a sitting position, holding his arms directly out to his sides and remaining perfectly still.

"What do you want?" Cye asked slowly, unsure of what to make of his strange behavior.  He might as well stall the shadow's son for as long as he was able, praying that his equilibrium would recover.  The pain radiating outward from his chest was slowly diminishing, but he would prefer not to fight until he was feeling completely better.  He couldn't afford to accumulate any more disadvantages than were already hounding him.

"I'm just here to keep you away from Lanfear for the moment.  She's busy and told me that she doesn't want to be disturbed."

"Define busy," Cye snarled, preparing to sink into the ground to get away.

Nasus shrugged.  "She didn't exactly tell me.  Something about elemental manipulation and master abilities, I think."  He paused, cocking his head slightly as though listening to something and grinning crookedly.  A scream resounded from somewhere in the distance.  "Ah, and that would be Rowen, I believe."

Spitting out a curse that caused Nasus to raise his eyebrows in surprise, Cye sank into the ground, shooting through the molten stone at impossible speeds.  He hadn't been moving for more than a few seconds before a strong hand latched onto his ankle, jerking him to the surface again.  He found himself face to face with Nasus once more.

"I'm warning you, stay away from the house," he growled, dropping Cye to the ground once more and sitting directly in his way.

"Make me," Cye snapped, plowing over him as he headed to the house again, Nasus falling in right behind him, cursing loudly.  He was surprised to find that he was actually managing to stay a short distance of his pursuer, gaining ground when he began to push himself.

Safe to cast, he snapped open a gateway just in front of him and teleported into the living room of the Sanada household just below the ceiling, not wanting to appear on top of anyone.  He landed roughly and began scanning the empty area, charred almost beyond recognition.  Spitting out a string of vulgarities, he charged up what remained of the stairs and listened closely.  Hearing a soft whimper, he tore into the room he used to share with Kento so long ago, skidding to a halt at the sight that greeted his eyes.

Rowen lay on the floor with Lanfear kneeling over him, shredding him slowly with her claws just to hear him cry out.  Seeing his arrival, she only smiled.  Cye realized his mistake instantly when he saw that they were the only ones in the room and leapt forward, jerking roughly to a halt as both of his wings were snagged firmly.

"So kind of you to come," she purred as the others slowly wrestled him to the floor, Nasus appearing to stand behind her with a smirk on his face.  She threw a knowing smirk in his direction as the black flames died out around him.  "I told you reverse psychology would work on the weak minded."

"This wasn't really necessary though," he laughed.  "The Child of Mouri is so far gone that he can barely stand, let alone fight back.  The teleportation spell he cast a moment ago should be catching up with him any time now."

Cye writhed under the weight of nine armored bodies, beginning to realize the truth behind their words.  His vision was already starting to fade slightly, the pain in his stomach renewing itself with a vengeance.  Hooking a cord of the energy of air to that of fire, he ignited the two smirking figures in front of him, tying off the simple weave of elemental manipulation into a fiery whirlwind as though it were a simple spell.  After several slashes of energy, Lanfear was able to dissipate the swirling winds, leaving the fires crackling unmoving on the floor.

_Damn it, Cye!  Quit screwing around and fight her for real!_

Cye's head snapped up at the telepathic sending, his mind instantly identifying Rowen's mental patterns.  He didn't have a chance to respond before the others began joining in.

_Get her,_ Kento called out loudly in his mind.

_Finish her,_ Ryo demanded.__

_Take her out,_ Sage said firmly, allowing for no argument.  _Do whatever you have to, but end this._

_Please, Cye,_ Kayura murmured.

"Get the hell offa me and I'll try," he spat, wriggling frantically.

"No," Lanfear murmured, summoning a dagger of black flames to hand.  "You won't."  Cye's eyes widened as she raised the black blade above her head, slamming it downwards with all of her considerable strength.  The weave stopped just short of him, the black metal shattering as it contacted an unseen wall.  Her eyes turned murderous, the rumbling in the back of her throat rising into a single word that caused every one of the Ronins and Warlords to flinch.

"Traitor!"

She yanked the blond out of the center of the dog pile, effectively throwing three of the others onto the floor.  Relieved of some of the weight, Cye surged to his feet, locking his jaw when his knees buckled and nearly deposited him onto the floor again.  Before anyone had a chance to retaliate against either him or Sage, he leapt forward into Lanfear with claws extended, grinning to himself when he heard the sickening crunching of ribs.  He didn't have a chance to do anything to her when his look-alike bowled him over, digging claws into his sides and sinking thick fangs into his shoulder.  Cye barely flinched before grabbing his shoulder with one hand and punching through the scaled chest in front of him.  Nasus only shuddered once before slumping limply, shifting into a human form as his muscles became watery, sea blue eyes already glazed in death.

Pushing the russet-haired corpse free of him, he tried to employ the same tactics on Lanfear, hissing in frustration and helplessness when his metallic claws rebounded off her chest harmlessly.  Not concerned, she threw him across the room into her captives, blinking in shock when none of them made a move to hold him down.  It took her but an instant to realize why.

Sage and Date were both glowing in shades of green as they forced strands of light to secure themselves and the others.  Rowen, Hashiba, and surprisingly Ryo were manipulating the air to help with the restraints.  Kento was busy sinking them all into the floor to make absolutely sure they couldn't move.  Dais was all but laughing aloud.  More than a dozen images of Cye were sprawled across the floor or running around thanks to his efforts.  A muscle in Lanfear's cheek twitched.

"So the elemental masters follow the dying dragon they once acknowledged as a friend," she murmured, a faint smile playing on her lips.  "Know that you will suffer for your treachery once I have dealt with this nuisance."  She looked around coldly, instantly distinguishing him from the illusions.

Cye looked to the others where they quivered where they stood, their armor straining to get to him.  He took a deep breath and did something he knew he would hate himself later for, taking a hesitant step away from his friends.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, trembling forcefully as he continued to move back.  At the sudden burning of his eyes, he spun and bolted out a portal he had readied in his mind, unraveling the weave behind him so it would take Lanfear a little longer to follow him when she had to work from memory alone.  He instantly jumped through a second and a third, unraveling each as he did so.

He stared blankly at the opening of the cave where they had been hiding what seemed like an eternity ago, wondering blankly why he had come here.  Staggering forward slowly, he reestablished the barrier Mieren had used and slipped into the narrow opening, his dead gaze inevitably falling on the pillar of fog in the center of the dome.  It wasn't so much the fog that baffled him, but the edges of the Warlords' armor orbs and Kayura's pendant peeking out from the mist.

"So that's how she did it," he muttered brokenly, clasping a dark blue sphere between two claws and attempting to pull it free.  He blinked in confusion when the armor orb refused to budge in the slightest.  Abandoning the orb, he began to study the traces of energy that still burned in the air, his eyes narrowing in hopelessness as he quickly became lost in the intricate patterns.  Setting his jaw, he began again.

*     *     *

Rowen set his jaw when Sage cried out again, despite his best efforts to remain silent under the torment he was now enduring.  She hadn't shown it in Cye's presence, but she was furious that he had killed Nasus and was now determined to take the price of his death out of Sage's hide.  They had all been beaten for resisting, those who had been actively participating getting the worst of it.

He wished he could do more than move his eyes, but he had been unable to gain any control past that.  He wanted desperately to talk to the others about something he had seen, but was terrified that Lanfear would hear him.

_Rowen?_

Nearly jumping out of his skin from shock, it took him a moment to identify who was trying to talk to him.  He nearly lost it again when he realized it was his ancestor.

_Leave me alone.  She can hear everything we say._

_Only if you're talking to each other directly._

Rowen blinked, baffled.  _What do you mean 'directly'?_

_You weren't trained very well, were you?  No matter.  As long as you send messages privately and use one of us as a rebound, she shouldn't be able to hear what you're saying.  Our armors aren't connected to her like yours are.  I've been watching you for a few minutes now.  You look like you're about to explode if you don't say something._

_Damn near.  Very well, I've gone private.  Can everyone hear me?_  He waited until several confirmations bounced back to him before continuing.   _Did you guys see Cye just before he left?_  When he received several acknowledgements but not the answer he was looking for, he continued._  He was crying._  He hesitated before repeating the entirety of the premonition. _ 'Spawning of the shadow's past, elements shall follow the dragon's fires through the night airs as blue armor framed in white rises to his call.  Looking to the midnight stars and shrieking fury into the night, shall he fight the world alone.  Armors rise to fight again, falling to burning arts under a dragon's tears.  Ancient fires shall rise again, breaking free as dimensions fall to fight the powers of past mistakes now broken into shards.  Fires rise and fires die, falling to the dragon's cry.'_

'_Armors rise to fight again, falling to burning arts under a dragon's tears_,' Ryo whispered, terrified of the implications.  _She's going to kill us.  He left us to die._

_She won't kill us yet,_ Sanada murmured.  _'Fires rise and fires die, falling to the dragon's cry.'  I think that Cye is going to be doing the killing._

_But Cye isn't the only dragon,_ Hashiba argued.

'_Ancient fires shall rise again, breaking free as dimensions fall to fight the powers of past mistakes now broken into shards,'_ Rowen snapped.  _Don't you get it?  The past mistake broken into shards was not referring to our armor!  It was Mieren!_

_For the first time in three thousand years, her soul is not in shards,_ Kayura argued, wincing when Sage cried out again.  _It has to be something else.  Three of the sorcerers have been captured with us and they don't look like they're going to be fighting anything anyway._

_Oh light, it can still be split, made into shards.  We're not the ancient fires in the premonition,_ Date stated somewhat unsteadily.  _Hashiba, what will happen if that boy reopens the portal used to bring us into this plane of existence?_

There was a pause before the sorcerer answered.  _The dimensions will fall._

*     *     *

Mia hefted the strangely light katana in front of her experimentally, eyeing the strange runes on the sides of the shining blade once more.  Mouri had spent a considerable amount of time creating a copy of the symbols on Neris's short sword on her own slender blade.  Shifting anxiously in the weightless armor, she glanced around the group where the others were still hard at work.

Gau and Ella were making rounds adjusting armors upon request and finishing healing everyone who had so much as a bruise.  White Blaze and Chimera circled the small grove endlessly, looking for any signs of people watching them.  They had nearly scared the life out of some hapless elf that had escaped the devastation of Nasus's attack, following the instructions Neris had left scrawled in the charred ground to find them.  One by one, almost a dozen elves had filtered into the area, staying only long enough to have Ella and Gau heal and armor them.  They all left instantly afterwards, searching for other survivors and scouting the area.

Akira was making his own rounds, instructing the ground to create weapons for each of them before moving on.  Once finished, he had doubled back to play with the weighting and balance of the implements of destruction at Fung's request, Mouri following right behind him to enchant the blades.  Ella had suggested weapons of light so that they wouldn't have weight, but Gau had instantly squashed that notion by simply stating that light could not be enchanted to deflect or unweave a spell as could the finer metals.

During the preparations, Touma had grown steadily worse.  At first, it appeared as though he had no more than a headache and a few sore muscles from maltreatment.  He had been moving ever slower and spitting out more vulgarities as the hours passed, finally collapsing to the ground, quivering brokenly.  Mia and Mana had been at his side in an instant, but neither knew what to do.  Mouri hadn't been exactly gentle about waking him, either, slapping him forcefully enough to crack his jaw.  After much abuse, he had opened his eyes blankly, mumbling something unintelligible about a pentagram before promptly passing out once more.  Mia sighed as she looked over to him again.  Gau was at his side as he had been every few minutes, but no matter how hard he tried, the older man fought him off, insisting adamantly that he didn't need any help.  Gau decided to leave him alone after the half-conscious sorcerer nearly incinerated him.

Akira wandered over to her slowly, following her gaze without difficulty.  He cleared his throat softly.  "Is your sword balanced to your liking?"

Mia looked at him wearily, trying to give him a reassuring smile.  It was hard.  "It's fine.  You've adjusted it three times now.  You should rest before we leave."

Nodding as though he had heard the same thing several times in the last few minutes, which he likely had, he wandered over to slump against a nearby tree, idly twirling a long staff tipped in blades on either end.  He only paused once to adjust the eighteen-inch blades on each end, leaving one perfectly straight and the other minimally curved.  After making a few hooking motions in the air, he nodded to himself and went back to staring at the ground.  Although the thing was solid metal, he didn't seem to notice the weight, whirling it lightly through his fingers absently as he studied the ground in front of him, occasionally huffing softly or shaking his head.  It looked almost as though he was speaking to someone.

Mia finished braiding her hair tightly to keep it securely out of her way, pulling Ella aside to do the same for her.  She made a brief pause beside Mana, but couldn't bring herself to stay too long around the younger woman.  Mana was almost completely unresponsive, cradling Touma in her arms and murmuring softly as she rocked him gently.  Because he had broken free of the pentagram, his mind and very soul were shredded beyond the healing abilities of the children or elves.  On the rare occasions he actually awoke, he didn't seem to recognize anyone and began flailing wildly, calling out for Cye.  Mouri had been able to calm him the first time, Touma's fever ravaged mind not realizing that the elfin sorcerer was not his son.  Nothing else seemed to phase him in the slightest.  They had been forced to knock him out twice now for their own safety.

Anubis cleared his throat softly, catching Mia's attention just before she sat down once more.  Curious, she wandered over to him, blinking in shock when he held out the black ring for her inspection.  The ring was still the deepest obsidian, but small cracks and chips appeared along its length.  She blinked, coming to a sudden realization.  The black flames that had been flicking around the dark metal were gone.

"What about the other one?" she asked slowly, almost afraid of the answer.

Having expected the question, Anubis calmly reclaimed the golden staff from where it sat next to a nearby tree, holding it steady when she grasped the end.  The golden ring still flickered with teal light, more strongly than before, each pulse of blue light sending a ripple through the golden metal.  A particularly strong flash sent a miniature shock wave through the length, expanding the diameter of the ring slightly.

Mouth dry, Mia raised disbelieving eyes to the red-haired man.  "What does that mean?"

"I don't know," he admitted softly, glancing around.  "Mouri is just as baffled."

Anubis gasped when the staff was ripped out of his hands suddenly by a groggy Touma, stepping back from the blue-haired man fearfully.  For his part, Touma only stared blankly at the staff, occasionally fingering the golden ring whenever it flared with blue light.  Mana hovered by his shoulder anxiously, her eyes worried.

"When do we leave?" Touma asked blearily, looking around with unfocused eyes.

"We are leaving as soon as we are ready," Fung said firmly, crossing his arms across his chest.  "You are staying here."

"The hell I am," he snapped, eyes flashing into alertness for the first time since he had recovered from the wound across his ribs.  "My father and only son are out there, and they killed my mother.  I'm not staying," his finished weakly, voice cracking halfway through his protests.

Attracted by the yelling, Mouri wandered over to the small group, eyebrows rising slowly when he saw Touma.

"Don't worry," he said comfortingly.  "You can go.  Just try not to get in the way of our casting or elemental manipulations."

Everyone stared at him incredulously at this announcement except Touma, who nodded to himself and handed Anubis his staff before finding somewhere to lie down once more.  Furious, Mana lifted Mouri off of the ground by the plating of his subarmor.

"Are you mad?" she hissed.  "He'll be killed."

"I doubt anyone will survive this encounter," he whispered, not fighting back in her fierce grasp.  "It doesn't matter if we die fighting now.  If Lanfear lives, she will continue to hunt us until every last one of us has been killed.  Haven't you noticed by now that she's enjoying this?"

Swallowing thickly at the brutal truth, Mana nodded stiffly and lowered the elfin sorcerer to the ground.

"When do we leave?" she murmured.

Mouri looked around slowly, taking careful note of everyone and everything in the small grove, nodding to himself.  "Now."

*     *     *

Cye gasped as he lost control of his weaves, clutching his chest and crumpling to the ground.  He felt like he was on fire from the inside out.  He whimpered and held his head in trembling hands, praying to anyone who would listen for the pain to stop.  He closed his eyes and began to pant raggedly, wondering fearfully if this was the last feeble stirring of his soul before it died.

"Not yet," he growled, forcing his eyes open to begin the spell anew.  "I can't die yet.  I'm not finished."

He straightened brutally, ignoring the tearing feeling that radiated from his entire body, grinding his teeth in pain and frustration.  Noting that his voice was fading, he began the spells anew in their woven form, praying he could finish them this time.  He watched as the fog pillar in the dome absorbed the strands of energy hungrily, almost drawing them in of its own accord.  He could neither see nor feel the weave within the pillar, yet he continued stubbornly, working utterly blind.

"Spirits of darkness, chaos, and destruction, I implore you, open the forbidden gateways that I may call forth our salvation.  Let the ancient fires rise again," he called out softly, his mind calling forth the same words Mieren had used.  He drew a blank after that, unsure exactly how he was supposed to proceed.  He didn't know the proper words to call the others forth.  Taking a deep breath, he began bluffing his way through the ritual, praying that it would still work.

"I call to the Ancient, the guardian, the protector.  May the defender of the ages rise again," he called out somewhat firmly, still hearing the resonance of those words in the air from Mieren's plea.  He took a deep breath when nothing happened.  "Bear the Armor of the Ages and free the world from the mistakes of the past."

Kayura's pendant flared to life suddenly, reforming the pentagram within the column of mist.  The fogs immediately dissipated.  In a flash of beige light, the pendant vanished, reappearing in the pentagram slowly in the form of a heavily muscled woman wearing Kayura's skimpy armor.  Cye exhaled loudly in relief when she looked at him curiously before stepping back to her place in the outer circle.  Taking a deep breath, he began again, taking a shortcut when he sensed that time was growing short.

"I call upon the Clan of the Midnight Shadows," he murmured, head snapping back in shock when he felt more than one hundred responses resounding in his mind.  The woman nearly jumped out of her skin, eyes widening in shock and horror.  She opened her mouth to say something, freezing in horror when she realized he couldn't stop the ritual without doing serious damage to the dimension at that point in the spell.  He didn't appear to speak her language either, so the effort would have been useless anyway.  He swallowed nervously and tried not to look in her direction.  "I call to the protectors of the ancient warrior, those who would not see the dragon slain for the fault that was not her own."

Four distinct entities moved forward from the rest as they vanished, no longer involved in the summoning.  Each presence solidified into its own distinct color, moving unerringly towards the matching armor orb.  Dark blue, forest green, copper and deep violet shot outwards as one, the armors of the Warlords materializing where the orbs lay just beyond the pentagram.  The woman in Kayura's armor promptly freaked and lunged towards him, lashing out with one of her Starlight Swords.  Cye squeaked and scooted out of her reach, accidentally losing his hold on the fragile weaves around the room.

Everyone froze, watching numbly as the azure strands around the room shivered and snapped, creating backlashes of energy that would have imploded the cave had Cye not reasserted control over the stone and demand that it stay in place.  Within the area where the pentagram had stood, the fogs reformed with a vengeance, thicker than before his spell.

_"Idiot!"_ the man in Anubis's armor shrieked at him in a high-pitched voice, giving away his apparent youth.

_"We all need to get out of here.  Now,"_ the ancient snapped, flipping her lengthy hair over her shoulder and looking at Cye heatedly.  _"I don't know what the hell that thing is, but I think we should take it with us.  I want an explanation for this."_

Nodding to himself, Cye snapped open a gateway to the shoreline, waving the other five through frantically as he fought the cords of power still whipping around the dome.  Throwing him heated glares, they filtered through, Cye following on their heels.

Without waiting for an explanation, the blue-haired man banished Cale's armor, moving to shuck the subarmor as well.  Cye immediately tackled him, pinning the older man to the ground with only a minimal amount of struggle.

_"Keep the armor on if you want to live,"_ he snapped, backing off when his captive nodded numbly.  Cye noted wryly that he was a mirror image of Cale, minus the scar across his face.  He was willing to bet that the others looked like their descendants as well, especially considering that the guardian looked startlingly like a taller, older, bodybuilding Kayura, gray streaking her raven hair.

_"I thought you couldn't speak our language,"_ the woman snarled, swinging him around to face her fully.

_"I can speak several languages,"_ Cye grumped, matching her glare for glare.

_"If you had summoned us properly, we should have been able to speak YOUR language through the armors,"_ she grumbled.

_"I just want to know how you did that,"_ a white-haired man said slowly, changing into his subarmor and making a face.  Cye couldn't help but grin.  He looked just like Dais would if he had both of his eyes and shorter hair.  _"You weren't even using the correct phrasing to bring us across, yet we were pulled here anyway.  How much energy were you putting into that spell?"_

_"More than I would have liked,"_ he admitted, sinking to the ground wearily and closing his eyes to block out the light of the late afternoon.

_"I have a better question,"_ a soft baritone asked slowly.  Cye cracked one eye to peer up at the green-haired man staring at him curiously.  _"What… Who are you?"_

_"I'm Cye Mouri, a descendant from both the Mouri and Hashiba bloodlines,"_ he said softly, grunting when he tried to regain his feet.  _"And Mieren's,"_ he tacked on almost as an afterthought.

The ancient sorcerers and guardian froze and began exchanging shocked glances before turning inevitably back to him.

_"I'm not sure I want to know how that happened,"_ the blue-haired man muttered, shaking his head wearily and scrubbing his hands through his hair roughly.  He looked up at Cye for a moment and shrugged, extending one hand hesitantly.  _"I'm Kenji."_  Cye grasped it gingerly in shaking it, afraid of hurting the older man.

_"Shinji,"_ the ten-year-old redheaded boy in Anubis's armor said slowly, looking at him strangely and folding his arms resolutely, refusing to shake hands.

_"Ritsuko,"_ the guardian offered carefully, obviously not sure what to think.

Not getting a response from the other two, Cye cleared his throat softly and looked at them firmly.

_"Kusen," _the green-haired man in Sehkmet's armor growled, glaring at him.

The white-haired man looked torn between giving his name companionably and trying to rip Cye's throat out.  He finally settled on the former.  _"Tari."_

_"Now that we know who you are,"_ Kusen hissed, eyes narrowing as he regarded Cye more closely.  _"What are you?"_

_"The combination of a living soul and one of the copies of the Armor of Chains."_

The results of this statement snapped every one of the sorcerers to attention, Shinji and Ritsuko actually sinking to the ground in shock.  Sighing loudly, he began a sketchy explanation of what was going on, starting with the appearance of Lanfear and her capturing of the armors and his friends.  He had barely told them about Mieren's summoning of the others when every last sorcerer there began cursing.

_"How long ago was this?"_ Ritsuko shrieked.  _"How long ago did Mieren call the others?"_

_"A couple of days at the most,"_ he answered warily.  _"Why?"_

_"Oh light,"_ Kenji breathed, face pale.  _"You opened another passage in reality when the first hadn't even closed yet.  Where is the first one?  Maybe there are enough of us to close it."_

Cye blinked in shock.  _"I used the same one Mieren did."  _Five sets of horrified eyes turned to him.  _"What?"_

_"Oh light, he doesn't know,"_ Tari breathed.  _"Whatever we're here for, Child of Mouri, we need to do it now."_

_"Probably, considering that I'm dying,"_ Cye grumbled, eyes narrowing when the others shook their heads numbly.

_"That won't matter for much longer,"_ Kenji said slowly.  _"The dimensions are collapsing and it will take more than us to close the hole."_

_"How long do we have?"_ Cye choked out, swallowing thickly.

Ritsuko looked up at him with haunted eyes.  _"A few hours at the most."_

*     *     *

Cye continued to explain everything he knew about Lanfear, Mieren's defeat and what had happened to him as they moved silently through the trees, heading unerringly towards what was left of the Sanada household.  They hated to waste the time by traveling afoot, but were terrified of what might happen to them if they dared to teleport in an unraveling dimension.

He skidded to a halt just before reaching the clearing that was the lawn to the Sanada household, the sorcerers and guardian stopping directly behind him.

_"Fall in,"_ he called out unconsciously, panting softly in anticipation of the upcoming battle.  _"Flank the house.  We'll surround them and attack from all sides.  Keep the others out of my way.  I'll take out Lanfear."_

He watched carefully as the others circled the charred remains of the house, counting slowly.  Taking a deep breath, he cried out sharply, not waiting to see the rising fires before he charged blindly towards the house.

*     *     *

The pillar of fog rolled slightly, the mists thinning and parting to an imperious demand.  A shadowed figure pushed free of the confining walls of nothingness slamming the earth out of its way furiously, crimson eyes narrowing in hatred.  After a moment, a second shadow followed, standing in the small clearing haughtily.  Twin sets of blood-red eyes locked in a contest of wills for a mere instant before the shadows turned as one to lash out at the milky column with obsidian energies, both sneering contemptuously at the howl from the other side.  As one, the entities of darkness began to claw their ways to the surface.

*     *     *

Mouri hunkered down lower in the grass, watching the devastated house before him warily.  He could see the others inside and they didn't appear to be doing anything, but he was nervous all the same.  He occasionally spared a glance towards the sky, swallowing nervously every time his eyes fell upon the strange misty streaks spreading across the darkening evening sky.  He shifted uncomfortably, wishing he knew why the winds had gone completely still a few minutes ago.

He stiffened when the grass not far from him rustled slightly with someone's passage, relaxing when Akira raised himself out of the grass slowly, golden eyes shimmering in the shadows.

"There are at least a half a dozen people around the area that aren't with us," he murmured, careful not to allow his voice to carry.  Mouri jerked slightly, looking around frantically with wide eyes.  Akira snorted softly.  "That won't work.  They're hiding really well.  Not even the elves saw them."

"Then how know where they are?" Mouri asked slowly.

There was a slight pause and a tightening of golden eyes before an answer came.  "I just know.  Drop it."  He spun to leave, pausing to cock his head slightly as though listening to something that even the elf's sharp ears couldn't detect.  He nodded slowly and peered over his shoulder with a guarded look.  "They're on our side."

Mouri had to grind his teeth to keep from screaming.  "How do you know?"

Another pause.  "I just do," he muttered, vanishing into the darkness before he could press the point.  Mouri wanted to rip his hair out.  No, he corrected himself, he wanted to rip Akira's hair out.

A roar shattered the night, six brilliant fires exploding in the night, destroying the darkness with teal, navy, green, copper, beige and violet lights.  Mouri froze.

"Cye," he breathed, eyes growing wider.  "Oh God, he called some of the Clan of the Midnight Shadows and an Ancient."  He stiffened in sudden realization, looking up at the spreading white veins in the sky with watering eyes.  He reopened the gateway.  The dimensions were unraveling.

"Follow the dragon!" he screamed when he saw Cye leap out of the trees towards the house, charging forward after him with no regard for the plan they had so carefully worked out on the way here.

For a mere instant, he was alone in his charge, the eleven surviving elves and Fung falling in behind him quickly, not willing to question him.  Amid a bout of cursing, Akira leapt out of hiding as well, Nasuti and Gau falling in on either side of him as he ran.  In a matter of seconds, Touma pulled into the lead of the charge in his dragon form, flickering silvery blue flames shooting around him wildly, uncontrolled.  Mana rode beside him on White Blaze, adding her own pale blue flames to the chaotic swirl.  Mia, clinging tenaciously to Chimera, and the two Warlords followed in the back, none of them strong enough to be on the leading edge of the mad charge, Neris and Siellon flanking them protectively.  It had taken a lot of pleading, begging and a short round of training, but Ella ran beside them as a black centaur, not straining to keep up with them in the slightest.

Before they had covered half the distance, the ground surged beside the house, forming into a stone cougar nearly forty feet tall at the shoulder.  Several elves tripped in shock, one of them tangling Fung's feet to deposit him beside them on the still trembling earth.  Mouri nearly wet himself, eyes bulging and mouth dry.

"Earth elemental," he breathed, his mind rolling over and twitching as it became clear who Akira had been talking to and getting his information from.  He felt like kicking himself.  Of course it would have survived separating from Lanfear, naturally hanging around the earth master to extract his revenge for three thousand years of captivity in the darkness.

Twin flashes of blackness struck at the enormous beast of mottled gray and brown stone, knocking it to the ground for less than a second.  A reverberating howl of defiance rang out from the elemental, all but deafening the charging warriors and anyone in the house.  A crack of lightening in the clear sky illuminated the area, showing two figures floating above the house insolently, one short and slender, and the other taller and heavily muscled.  Both were enshrouded in black flames that crackled, wavering unsteadily.

Mouri instantly recognized the first as Nasus, but was unable to identify the other for a moment.  He nearly tripped in his charge when his mind finally put a name to the second, involuntarily whispering the name tearing at his sanity.

"Talpa."

*     *     *

Cye heard the distinct warning just before the elemental rose from the ground, leaping to the side to evade the falling rocks.  Black flames swallowed his vision for the moment it took him to retaliate, lashing out blindly at the source.  He spat out a curse when his spell unraveled before he could do more than free himself from the incinerating energies, throwing his head back to look up at his attacker.  He backpedaled frantically at the sight that greeted his eyes, Lanfear not being his opponent as he had expected.  It was bad enough that Nasus smirked at him from high above, but he simply couldn't stand seeing Talpa beside him, both of them grinning rather nastily.  He ground his teeth and chose to ignore them, proceeding with his charge towards where he believed Lanfear to be.  He spat one last expletive at them as he disappeared into the wreckage that used to be a house, continuing to growl to himself as he ran.

*     *     *

Power crackled across the clear skies, winds rising in response to the free energies, howling through the darkness.  The meager light from the stars and the sliver of the moon faded out slowly, leaving the battlefields below in total darkness.  The grounds dried suddenly, deep fissures and cracks spreading through the tortured earth as the temperatures plummeted drastically.

Anubis stiffened as he felt the trees dying, shriveling into little more than shells.  He looked to the mists streaking the sky, tendrils moving down towards the earth and the warriors like twisted serpents.  He knew without looking that the fog was reaching out towards anything living, hearing the screams of the animals in the back of his mind.

A white tendril reached for him, searching slowly for him as he backed away, following with increasing speeds as he continued to dodge.  Knowing that his sure-kill wouldn't do anything to the fog even if it had been working, he settled on lashing out with the scythe on the end of its chain, jaw dropping when the metal rusted and began to disintegrate before his disbelieving eyes.  Driven by a newfound fear and respect for the hounding mists, he began his sprint for the house once more, dodging the tendrils wildly as he moved towards his goal.

*     *     *

Hashiba lay panting limply on the floor, beyond movement.  Smirking at his still form, Lanfear slowly regained her feet and looked around to the others with a superior expression.  The blue-haired man leapt to his feet at the snap of her fingers, black flames rising around him unsteadily as his eyes rolled into a blank obsidian.  She looked to the others in satisfaction, smiling wider as she looked upon Date, Sanada and the Child of Fung, each of them sporting matching onyx eyes.  She regretted having to end their resistance so soon, she had rather enjoyed it, but those infernal escapees had actually managed to mount a worthwhile attack.  She didn't want any more of her servants to break free.  It was bad enough that the Cye and the two Warlords had escaped.

Rowen, Sage and Ryo had been bucking so furiously when she had first neared them that she had decided to leave them for the end, enjoying their furious howls.  Kayura had been seething silently the whole time, the thoughts in her mind making even Lanfear blink in shock at the viciousness of them.  She would have to be the last of the group, her thoughts far too entertaining to end just yet.  That left the two Warlords, Dais and Sehkmet, both of which had been trying so hard to avoid drawing attention to themselves.  They were about to find out just how poorly they had done.

A reverberating roar nearly deafened her on the spot, her sensitive ears leaving her head throbbing painfully as the last echoes of the howl died out.  She shook her head to clear the last of the ringing from her ears as she approached the green-haired man, readying a shield as she walked.  She couldn't help but grin when he paled and tried to squirm out of his armor, whimpering softly when she snapped the spell around his subarmor to prevent him from pulling Cye's little stunt.  The blasted hybrid was taking forever to die in that armor and she didn't need another like him running around.

She had barely placed one hand on his forehead when something tickled her senses, causing her to pause amid Dais's rabid cursing to look around.  Her lips curled into a smile as energy crackled through the air again, chuckling softly to herself.

"Welcome back, Nasus," she breathed, eyes lighting up.  Her grin grew wider when she sensed who was with him.  "So the Starlight Warrior returns as well," she murmured, momentarily forgetting the bucking Warlord.  At that statement, shock overpowered every mental sending, followed by a collage of expletives that nearly had her rolling on the ground in wild laughter.  She had forgotten how hard it had been for these little boys to stand up to him, ultimately relying on Mieren's pathetic energies to beat him.

 Trying not to laugh too hard, she reached out towards the trembling man once more, reveling in the fear and helplessness radiating from his mind and very soul.  She had barely placed the tips of her fingers on his sweating brow when she was roughly bowled over.  Shocked that someone had been able to sneak up on her, she blinked up at the snarling figure that was what was left of the Child of Mouri, unconsciously moving away from the smoldering silver eyes as he bucked in the grip of the four fragments of her soul.  The mercury eyes narrowed in hatred when they settled on Kento, the metallic features degenerating into a scowl.

A ripple of energy passed over him, reforming the face and wings back into unmoving plates of armor.  The flexibility that had slowly appeared in his limbs and body vanished, reverting into heavy slabs of metal once more.  Even without the ability to form expressions, his shock and terror radiated throughout the room clearly.  Only his liquid silver eyes remained, glowing softly in the darkness.  Lanfear chuckled softly.

"The dimension unravels, Child of Mouri," she murmured softly to him, watching carefully as his silver eyes narrowed, the faceplate of his armor unmoving.  "No magic will work properly for you now, boy.  You're too weak to control it."  She couldn't help but chuckle as the silver eyes regarding her narrowed further in hatred and denial.  "You're dying, boy, and there's nothing that can save you this time."

Undaunted, Cye took a vicious snap at her, succeeding in latching onto one of her arms, nearly ripping the appendage free when he jerked his head back.  He leapt into the air, dislodging the four holding him almost effortlessly and letting out another war cry as black flames rose into the air.  His armor foreleg formed into a mosaic of spikes and ridges as he came down, swiping at the nearest person.  Date stepped away a moment too late, blood streaming down his chest from a deep laceration in his throat and face.  He only tottered on his feet for a moment before sinking to the ground, the black flames around him dying out as Cye cried out sharply again.

"No magic will work properly, huh?" he snarled, backing away from the others slowly, his eyes growing maniacal in his expressionless face.  "If they won't work for me, then they won't work for you," he spat, lashing out at his friends with a whip of teal energies, laughing hysterically as he watched the armors splinter and crumble to dust.  His six friends only exchanged startled looks before scattering.  Lanfear's jaw dropped.

She looked as though she wanted to say something but couldn't get it out.  It took Cye a moment to realize why.  Now that the armors were shattered, she no longer understood Japanese.  Snarling, she settled on throwing him through the wall to the front yard, wanting more room to pulverize him.  Cye had barely landed before he was unceremoniously bowled off his feet, landing heavily on his side and glaring balefully at the fragment of a soul occupying Hashiba's body.  Date, Kento and Sanada fell in beside him instantly, Lanfear trailing them with a murderous expression on her face.  He scurried back, narrowly avoiding decapitation and cursing loudly when Nasus and Talpa entered the fray.

_"I thought you two were enemies,"_ he wailed, leaping out of the way of Talpa's flame trailing sword.

_"I despised Mieren,"_ he sneered.  _"Not Lanfear."_

Cye growled something less than companionable and began leaping around wildly to make absolutely sure he wasn't surrounded.  He didn't move fast enough.  A flashing tetsubo grazed the top of his head, biting cleanly through the metal of his helmet.  He staggered, nearly collapsing, as the world around him spun wildly and went black.

*     *     *

Kento huffed angrily to himself, watching in a cold fury as Lanfear pulled his body to his feet, turning to Hashiba as the others cursed rabidly.  He was suddenly aware of what his best friend had gone through, immediately poking at the armor that still surrounded his body.  He swore luridly when he made out the shield coating the enchanted metal, wishing that there were something he could do to help his friends.

Do you still live, earth master?

Kento would have had a seizure had he not already been technically dead, looking around wildly for the source of the disembodied voice.

You wish to help your friends, do you not?

Trying to keep from swearing, Kento sent out a silent affirmative, wondering if he had lost his mind.  Cye hadn't said anything about insubstantial voices or presences.

Your soul is strong, but you cannot last for much longer alone.  Do you wish to live, earth master?

_Who are you?_

I am not of the light or the dark.  I am what I am.

_Damn it.  That is not an answer._

So says your son as well.

Kento's mind froze.  _How do you know my son?_

He is the strongest earth master in existence or history.  He has asked that I protect you.

_And who are you?_

I am not of the light or the dark.  I am what I am.

Trying to keep from screaming in frustration, he tried a slight alteration of his first question.  _What are you?_

I am not of the light or the dark.  I am what I am.  Time grows short.  Will you accept my help?

Baffled, but growing desperate, he accepted.  His vision winked out suddenly as he was jerked roughly to somewhere.  He tried not to fight back, silently praying that he was giving in to an ally.  As one, vision and feeling returned.

Kento twitched experimentally, able to see, but not how he would have liked.  He could see everywhere around him at once and it was beyond annoying.  He tried to focus his vision and was instantly rewarded with normal sight.  Moving to sigh in relief, he ended up cursing mentally, realizing that he didn't have lungs nor the need to breathe, which was probably for the best considering that he appeared to be underground.  He decided to surface, blinking suddenly when he felt Cye approaching.

_Watch it, Cye.  I'm coming up,_ he called, suiting actions to words immediately.  He was rewarded with seeing Cye dart by his feet, tiny by all measures.  His best friend barely came up to his ankle.  He didn't get a chance to mull over it when something slammed painfully into his back, throwing him to the ground for a mere instant before he surged to his feet, roaring in defiance.  He barely saw the last traces of Cye's unraveling the attack before his best friend disappeared into the house.

Scowling, he rounded on his attackers, blinking in shock upon seeing that they were both tiny.  He was thunderstruck.  He was looking _down_ on the Sanada household.  Eyes narrowing, he turned to the two figures enshrouded in black flames, lips peeling away from his teeth in a feral snarl when he recognized them.

"You're supposed to be dead," he spat at them, his voice shaking the house and surrounding landscape as he squinted to see Talpa and Nasus clearly.  They both froze.

_"Hardrock?"_ Talpa asked incredulously.  _"Why would the elemental save _him_?"_

_"Earth master,"_ Nasus responded, growing bored.  _"Easily dealt with."_

_Not so easy as you would think,_ Kento sneered, his mind reeling.  An elemental saved him?  Was that what that thing was?

A crash snagged his attention and he spun to investigate, choking on a curse when he saw Cye thrown through the wall, Lanfear and her four new lackeys following.  Kayura, Sage and Rowen sprinted the other way at full speed, Sehkmet, Dais and Ryo each heading in directions of their own.  Shocked or no, he wasn't about to let his surprise slow his reactions.  He prepared to leap forward to his best friend's aid when flashes of energy, much stronger than before slammed him into the ground.  He could only watch numbly from beyond himself as his stone cougar body disintegrated before him, Talpa and Nasus moving towards Cye as his vision winked out entirely.

To Be Continued…

Confucious say:  Bird in the hand makes hard to blow nose.

R&R!


	9. Part 9

Dragon Wars

Part 9

By Mieren

Touma's eyes narrowed as he scanned the fields, not noticing that Mana was no longer beside him, having left to join the children and Warlords.  There were two clusters of people that had his attention in particular, one of the clusters surrounding a metallic blue dragon.  The others were moving towards them at a pretty good speed.

His features degenerated into a snarl instantly.  He was NOT going to let any reinforcements reach the others in attacking Cye.  He was outnumbered as it was.  Roaring furiously, he leapt into the path of the four men and one woman in the armor of the Warlords, his cries splitting the unnatural darkness.

*     *     *

_"We've got to get the shards of Lanfear's soul away from Cye,"_ Kenji panted, pulling several paces into the lead.

He and Ritsuko led the charge towards where they had just spotted Cye, Shinji following them and throwing half-woven spells wildly as he battled the misty tendrils that were doggedly following them.  Kusen and Tari brought up the rear, scanning the area frantically as they watched for attacks from flanking warriors.  They were more than slightly disconcerted when an elf was pulled screaming into the boiling fogs, a second following instantly when he tried to rescue his friend.

A blue dragon decked out in strangely luminescent armor landed before them, howling murderously and taking a wild snap at the foremost person, succeeding in pulling Kenji to the ground.  The blue-haired sorcerer let out a startled yelp as he tried to defend himself from the wicked talons, only succeeding in deflecting a few slashes at the cost of his armor's integrity.  Shrapnel that once passed for enchanted armor flew in all directions for the mere instant it took the others to mount a counterattack.

Shinji shot off the first spell, grinning somewhat nastily when the blue dragon was bowled over suddenly by the blast.  The grin slipped when he instantly regained his feet and charged.  He would have been trampled into the ground had Kusen not leapt over him to physically tackle the beast, doing his best to hold it while the others readied their spells.  Tari set off a blast that set both the dragon and his friend on fire, grimacing contritely at the glares from the others.

_"It's not responding right,"_ he muttered defensively, ducking his head apologetically.

The blue dragon summoned silvery blue flames to him, lashing out so suddenly and viciously that they barely had time to counter before they were incinerated.

_"Child of Hashiba and Mieren!"_ Ritsuko called out, recognizing the energies rolling around the shield she was holding.  The spell died suddenly as the silver eyes narrowed.  He took a step back, hissing angrily.  Before they could say anything, he reconsidered his retreat and slammed into them again, pinning Kusen and Shinji almost effortlessly.  Using his tail as a handhold, Kenji threw him free, struggling to remain on his feet as he straightened stiffly.

_"I'll hold him here,"_ Ritsuko snapped before he could open his mouth.  _"Help Cye.  He's fallen."_

The four sorcerers of the Midnight Shadows only looked at her miserably before sprinting to carry out her order, Kenji leaning heavily on Kusen as he ran.  Not bothering with a fair fight, they each tackled one of Lanfear's counterparts as they entered the turmoil, cursing when they realized that Cye was still outnumbered three to one.

*     *     *

Nasus raised one hand angrily to finish what he has started with the quivering Cye, blanching when he saw his attacker just before he was bounced to the ground by an infuriated Mouri, Fung falling in right behind him to crash into Talpa at a full tilt.

Sehkmet and Dais followed their mad examples, appearing out of the nearby trees to begin circling the group, hollering wildly at the top of their lungs like drunken lunatics.  Dumbfounded by the pure, unadulterated stupidity of what they were doing, Lanfear stared at them numbly for a moment, kissing the ground when Ryo appeared behind her, planting his shoulders in the small of her back in an all-out ramming maneuver.

Before anyone had time to do anything, Sehkmet and Dais joined the dog pile, whooping loudly as Kayura, Sage and Rowen came from the opposite direction.  The first two instantly began stepping on and kicking everyone they passed as they made their rounds, the last latching onto Cye and running like hell.

_"The light incinerate me if I'm not up against a Date,"_ Lanfear muttered wryly, shaking her head as she leap to her feet, dislodging the three men trying to pin her.  She glared after the retreating blue-haired form carrying Cye, sniffing loudly and making a face.  _"I'll be damned if he didn't plan this."_

She didn't have a chance to do anything when another two figures darted out of the trees, copper and navy auras winking in her vision for an instant before Anubis and Cale leapt at her to prevent her from following Rowen and Cye.  She only swatted them out of the air contemptuously as she stared after the two escaping figures.

She looked up at the pitch-black sky with a bemused expression, the lethal tendrils of fog spreading wildly.  The temperature dropped another several degrees, pulling the area ever closer to absolute zero.  Chuckling softly, she began freeing her children from the escapees and summoned help.

*     *     *

Rowen continued in his mad sprint towards where he had last seen Mana, Mia and the children.  Two elves he recognized were hovering beside them protectively.  He skidded to a halt just before slamming into a protective dome they were managing to hold up in the unraveling dimension, all but dancing where he stood as he waited for them to open the thing enough to let him in.  He instantly deposited the quivering weight across his shoulders in front of Gau, panting raggedly and motioning wildly as he tried to regain his voice.  The blond didn't have a chance to do anything, Cye surging to his feet and looking around with wild eyes.

"Easy, Cye," Mana said quickly, pushing him back to the ground.

Cye only blinked at her once before complying, too weary to fight back.  He settled on flopping back in such a way as to be able to see the surrounding area clearly, his silver eyes flashing dangerously as he shifted amid a bout of metallic clinking.  Seeing Touma and Ritsuko pounding on each other, he bounded to his feet, cursing loudly with no regard for the three children in the quavering dome.

"It's okay," Mia murmured uncertainly as he was forced to the ground again.  "She's keeping him out of the way.  He's not all there mentally," she said lamely.

"There's no point to you going anyway," Akira whispered brokenly.  "We've lost, Cye.  It's over."

Paying no attention to the fervent protesting, he leapt to his feet again when he saw the last of his friends pulled down by Lanfear's creations.  Only two of the sorcerers were still up and moving.  He was about to push through the shield and enter the free-for-all once more when something wet and sticky slid across his vision.  He tried to wipe it away irately, scowling at the gooey mess on the back of one armored forearm, freezing at what he saw.

"Blood," he breathed, staring unmoving at the red tinted metal.  He turned disbelieving eyes to the others, not resisting when Mana nodded irately and pushed him back to the ground.

"You're not getting up again until Gau does something about that," she said firmly, her blue eyes softening when they met his overwhelmed silver.

"You took a pretty bad blow to the head," Rowen murmured, eyes pained as he turned to his onyx-streaked arm.  He looked to the battle once more.  "I should go back.  It's dangerous for me to stay here."

Unbidden, Cye's gaze followed his to the massacre, the last of the ancient sorcerers having already fallen.  Whimpering softly, he tried to rise again.

"Do I have to tie you up?" Mana snapped.

Cye's eyes narrowed.  "No," he whispered, staring at the armor plating in silent deliberation.  Taking a deep, hesitant breath, he banished the shadowed armor of Torrent, nearly toppling to the ground without its support.  Gasps circulated the group as he pushed himself laboriously to his feet, wings falling limply at his sides when he was unable to hold them in place.  He stared at himself blankly for a moment, the sight of a half-starved blue dragon meeting his eyes.

"My God," Mia breathed, placing one hand gently under his jaw to force him to meet her questioning gaze.  "I thought that…"

"That I was dying," he finished, straining to heal the gash across the top of his head and pushing blood slicked hair out of his eyes.  "So did I."

"The body conforms to the soul," Neris murmured, gently cleaning the half-healed trench with a strip of cloth that looked suspiciously like part of his shirt.

"But the strength required for that," Siellon protested, crimson eyes widening with each word.  "Only the elementals can regenerate themselves in that manner."

"I'm not an elemental," Cye growled, ignoring their protests as he trotted unsteadily towards the battle, straining slightly to push past the dome that Akira seemed intent of keeping up.

"One of the true immortals," Neris murmured as Cye broke past the shield and began a lumbering sprint towards the bloodbath where his friends laid, unaware that Cye heard him as he scrambled to the slaughter.  He roared angrily as he leapt into the fray, using the shock of his appearance to his advantage as he slashed viciously at anything that moved.  He did not hear Siellon's final comment.

"In all of history, their existence has never been proven.  The true immortals are but a myth."

*     *     *

Cye didn't hesitate before leaping onto the dog pile that Lanfear was still pulling herself free from, crushing friends and foes alike before continuing his mad rush into Talpa, who had barely regained his feet.  They went down in a tangle of arms, legs and furious curses.  He made a few wild slashes before leaping free, afraid to let anyone get a grip of any sort on him.  He didn't believe that he was in any shape to break free if that happened.

"Cye," Ryo managed to whimper out as he charged by, catching his cold silver gaze with his own glazed blue.  He looked as though he wanted to say more but didn't have the breath to do so.  Cye blinked at him as he passed, unable to stop with three people scrambling to catch him, and coming too close to doing so for his liking.

He was thrown to the ground roughly as the shell of Sanada managed to snag his left hind leg, bringing him to an abrupt halt and depriving him of his precarious balance.  He hissed and took an angry swing at the faster man, the counterattack throwing him directly into the others as they waited unconcernedly.

_"You've lost, Child of Mouri,"_ Lanfear snapped, throwing the last of her attackers free from her to advance on him cautiously.  Behind her normally emotionless obsidian eyes, he could see a glimmer of fear, uncertainty.  He decided to play on her doubts, to see how much damage he could do while they were still scared of him.

_"Really?"_ he sneered, surging to his feet with a great deal of effort, ignoring the trenches torn in his shriveled muscles when he threw the others off of him.  A thought struck him suddenly, bringing a maniacal gleam to his eyes.  He concentrated fiercely, sending out a mental shock wave of power accompanied by a reverberating roar that echoed off of the distant mountains.  Eleven flashes of turquoise light answered him, each burst of light dispelling the gathering fogs and causing the crooked smile on his face to grow wider.  His attackers dropped him and backpedaled frantically when he began to laugh uproariously, eyes flashing from silver to turquoise as he called his own energies to him, watching happily as all hell broke loose.

*     *     *

Rowen sank to the ground wearily within the dome that he and Akira were struggling to hold in place, his eyes growing ever wider as he looked out to the battle.  Cye skidded to a halt beside him, chunking an unconscious Sage through the dome and spinning to head for the battle once more.  Ryo and Kayura quickly followed as he again darted by their group.  One by one, the Warlords, sorcerers and remaining few elves were deposited as they watched numbly, Cye howling out a joyous war cry before turning to the absolute chaos once more.

Relieved that it was nearly over, Cye only looked around once before his gaze fell on Ritsuko and Touma, scowling fiercely when he saw that they were still pounding on one another.  Unconcerned with the raging war around him, he calmly proceed to knock out the blue dragon before him, dragging him back towards the dome while muttering under his breath.  Ritsuko looked at him in utter incomprehension before following him numbly back to the others, growling at him in her language the whole way.

Cye tapped the solid wall of the dome as he neared, not surprised to find that he was specifically blocked from passing through.  He smirked at them as he pushed gently through the weaves, motioning for a highly irritated Ritsuko to follow him.  He had barely set Touma down before Akira sank him into the ground halfway up his chest, scowling darkly at him and clutching his blade tipped staff menacingly.  Cye only grinned as Akira approached, steadying the dome around them when the boy accidentally let it slip slightly.  Mana stopped him quickly, slapping the staff out of his hands.

"Idiot," she snapped, watching Cye carefully out of the corner of her eye.

"How are you doing that?" Akira demanded.

"I'm cheating," he smirked, looking out to the battle unconcernedly.

Rowen chuckled softly and plopped down beside him, motioning absently for Akira to let him up.  "This is war, Cye," he said slowly.  "There are no rules."

Gau snagged his head in both hands as he set about healing the numerous bruises, lacerations and broken bones plaguing Cye, who smiled slightly in thanks, muttering something about 'twelve times now' under his breath that the others weren't sure they wanted to hear.

"Thanks," he murmured, massaging a stiff shoulder tenderly.  "I've been fighting for hours now."  He paused to look around again.  "My turn anyway."

"But the battle only started a few minutes ago," Mia protested, trailing off when she saw the smirk on Cye's face and realized what he had done.

Not letting the others begin with the inevitable questioning just yet, he swatted the milky tendrils away from the dome with practiced ease, careful to keep the fog away from the battlefield.  He summoned all of his remaining energy as he struggled to hold the dimension together, his muscles going watery as his strength quickly diminished.

His eyes misted brutally as he looked around the field, the teal depths locking on what used to be Kento.  He whimpered raggedly and closed his eyes.  "Oh God, Kento.  I'm so sorry."

*     *     *

Hunkering down lower to the ground, Cye advanced on his target, blatantly ignoring the shadowed figure that fell in beside him.  Talpa's eyes all but bulged from his head as he looked at them, taking a hesitant step backward and raising a sword of black flames defensively.

Cye only smiled coldly as he advanced, trying to ignore the horrible scarring covering the lanky figure beside him.  The mauled shadow must have been fighting for awhile now, unlike him.  He quickly decided that it would be best not to pay attention to any of the others in the slightest.  They would only serve as a distraction and get him in trouble later.

He was more than slightly miffed when he and his shadow could do little more than create a few nicks around Talpa's hands and arms.  He was fast.  Stiffly, doggedly, he continued the pursuit with a flame yari in hand, trying not to tire himself too badly.  He still had a long fight ahead of him.  As one, he and his shadow began to chant, throwing wary looks to the rolling fogs above as twin Exodus spells united to envelop the Starlight warrior.

Talpa spat a curse at them that was far from appropriate as he blocked their attacks, eyes widening when the fogs above moved towards him an instant afterwards, drawn towards the unfathomable energies of the strongest spell created in the history of the dimensions.  He screamed as mists rose from the ground directly below him to latch onto one armored leg.  Rather than giving in to the burning pain, he lopped off the appendage at the knee and lurched out of the way as more creepers came after him.  He barely had time to look up before a yari pierced his breastplate.  A second dragon fell in immediately behind the first, gleaming tanto falling in a descending arc towards his head.

Twin sets of turquoise eyes met before the identical shadows moved once again towards the battle in lumbering strides, fatigue tearing at their minds and very souls as they ran towards the worst of the battles.

*     *     *

The onyx-eyed figure that used to be Date jumped back from a vicious blow, scowling at his opponent darkly.  Black flames rose higher around him as he fought against the figure that remained ever in the shadows, turquoise eyes shining defiantly as he called his own teal energies to the battle.  No-dachi met yari in a deafening crash as Cye countered haughtily, waiting for the fogs to sense their magical energies and close in.  He had to save his strength.  The last battle would be the worst.

Date slashed at him with a no-dachi longer than he was tall, the smirk sliding from his face as Cye suddenly called a tanto to hand and threw it at him in a single, vicious motion.  He slumped to the ground as the blade pierced his armor and heart alike, dead before the searching fogs reached him.

Cye was already gone, following the twin shadows immersed in teal flames as they moved towards another of the dragons, paying no mind when a fourth joined them.

*     *     *

A dingy golden streak flashed through the air only to be swatted aside by a highly irate blue dragon wielding a yari.  Black eyes met with teal as matching energies rose into the air, tendrils of fog instantly detaching themselves from the billowing mass above to reach towards them.  Cye watched the pillars of mist descend warily, waiting until the last instant to dodge the most recent arrow, not overly eager to move.

He dropped the energies flaring around him suddenly, swallowing nervously when the creature of darkness that now occupied Hashiba's body did not.  The onyx-eyed denizen smirked at him coldly as he advanced on what looked like a defenseless target, expression twisting to one of horror when one of the milky strands contacted his armor.  He jerked back from the mist, howling in agony when it followed him, already having dissolved the armor around his arm and part of his chest.

Cye turned away and moved towards another battle, unable to watch the gruesome scene as the possessed man was slowly ripped apart in the near-sentient mists.  He blinked and launched himself forward as three identical figures ran by, unwilling to be left behind and knowing at the same time that he wouldn't be.

*     *     *

A scream of agony echoed through the frigid air for a mere instant before silence reigned once more.  The only sounds were of ragged panting and the occasional clanging of armor.  Cye tried not to wince.  He knew perfectly well what that sound meant.  Someone had gotten tangled in the mists, and he had no intention of turning to see whom.  The trailing fogs responded to energy as they tore the dimension apart, following the magical energies reverberating through the devastated battlefield as surely as the minuscule life energies of the plant and animal life that remained in the area.

Lost in thought as he was, he nearly lost a leg to Sanada's vicious slash, barely leaping back before the follow-through carved a hole in his throat.  He cursed at himself, grinding his teeth as he retreated again, not nearly fast enough to outmaneuver the man.  This would take time, something he did NOT have.

He spun to tackle the man fully only to find four mirror images of himself doing the equivalent of the Cucaracha on the now prostrate man, whooping and hollering insanely.  Cye grinned and shook his head wearily, not hesitating before joining in.

As one, they leapt back as the man ceased moving, five identical sets of teal eyes locking for an instant before they turned to the nearest battle.

*     *     *

Cye backed away from what looked like Kento, eyes misting as what used to be his best friend advanced on him again, tetsubo held ready.  He looked up briefly to see five identical blue dragons tear by him, howling wildly as they plowed into Nasus just a short ways from him, the two dragons already there not hesitating before joining in.  His momentary inattention earned him another slash in his side and shoulder, causing him to take another step back.

For a mere instant, he couldn't bring himself to fight back, knowing that if Kento's body died, so would his best friend.  None of the others were as strong as he was and he had barely survived what had happened to him.  They wouldn't make it.  He watched the descent of the tetsubo numbly, trying to remind himself that all of the others would die if he gave in now.  Even so, it was the hardest thing he had ever done when he wrenched the staff out of his friend's hands, embracing him almost tenderly before reaching up slowly to break his neck.

He turned numbly to follow the others as they ran towards the last battle, tears slipping silently down his cheeks when he looked back to Kento's still form, knowing he would never again see his first and best friend.

*     *     *

Nasus had been straining to hold his own against the two mirror images of Cye, holding a yari in one hand and a tanto in the other as he frantically repelled blows.  It wasn't helping that he was constantly dodging tendrils of fog that seemed to forever hound him.

He scowled at the two blue dragons circling him, taking a vicious swing at the nearer of the two and crying out victoriously when one of the dragons fell back, one hand clutching a gash in his cheek.  Praying that the one he hit was out of the way for the moment, he rounded on the other, blinking in shock when his eyes fell on the scaled maw, a pale white scar running across the cheek in the exact position as on the one he had just hit.

Leaping back from the slash of a yari, he looked between the two, comparing injuries.  They were both bloodied, but one he had just hit also sported a slash down his front left leg.  He was not surprised to find that the other had a matching scar in that position.  Testing his theory, he threw his tanto at the one with the lacerated cheek, nodding to himself when the blade pierced the back foot, removing two of the outer toes.  He immediately spun on the other, onyx eyes locking with the terrorized foot, two toes missing from the mauled appendage.

He knew it.  That fink Cye had been tinkering with the timeline.  But how many times had he done it?  He scanned the field frantically, eyes bulging when he counted a total of twelve of the blue forms, five of which were heading towards him like a stampede of rabid lemmings.  He only had time to spit out the first part of an expletive before he was run down by those five, who were quickly joined by the two he had been fighting.  His last vision was the glittering flash of a descending yari.

*     *     *

Lanfear snarled at the scaled figures circling her, slapping the nearest Cye into the second and tackling the third fully.  Damn the boy, he had actually managed to come up with a nearly flawless strategy.  He couldn't come back in a loop like this unless he won, and that didn't speak well for her state of health.  No matter.  She could counter his pathetic attacks.  No plan was flawless.

Calmly looking up from the three she was fighting, Lanfear counted another eight charging her in a full tilt, all of them bloodied and scarred.  Her lips pulled back from her teeth in a cold sneer.  If she was going to fight him, then so help her, he was going to be sporting a good deal more scars than that.  There would be a price for challenging her.

Letting out a deafening roar, she allowed herself to shift into her dragon form for the first time in the battle, raking her claws through any flesh she could contact.  Slowly, inevitably, she was pulled down under the strength of the eleven teal dragons, her eyes locked on the twelfth in the dome on the other end of the devastated battlefield.  Even as steel met flesh, she smiled, knowing that she had won.

*     *     *

Cye raised himself to his full height, backing up wearily as he watched ten teal dragons finish pulling Lanfear to the ground.  He watched emotionlessly as they continued to shred her, muttering under his breath as he fought to cast a spell beyond imagination.  Something that would put the Exodus spell to shame.

He took a deep breath as he began chanting, barely aware of the others as they joined in, painfully aware of the meaning of the words.  "Allayensus mierna cumienama."  Turning against the darkness, the eternal child destroys the dimension.  "Neda cumiendis yenalli iessan amasen."  In the light of the dimension, he shall rise to destroy the shadow.  "Andienmier!"  I shall bring about this eternal destruction.  "Exodus!"

He was so enthralled in casting that he didn't notice the ten voices that joined his own as he altered one of the forbidden spells to create something beyond imagination.  Something that would work only for himself and his descendants, like the Exodus spell that only those of Mieren's bloodline could cast.  Cye opened his eyes as he threw the spell, vaguely aware that the tendrils of fog moved away from him and the spell he had just thrown, watching as Lanfear stiffened under the rolling blue flames, eyes glazing for the moment that it took her to vanish completely.  The flames around her looked almost gentle, but he knew the true strength behind the spell he had just cast.

Looking to his ten other selves, Cye trotted back to the dome where the twelfth was still sitting.  Twelve sets of teal eyes looked around the group, ultimately resting on Sehkmet, Sage and his children.  Though they seemed horrendously weary, the four didn't have to be asked before moving forward to heal them.  Rowen, Touma and Mana settled back to wait uncertainly while the others crowded around, no one sure what to think.

"It's not over yet," the Cye that had stayed in the dome grated out, the other eleven nodding in agreement.  Gau was the first to catch on.

"You're going to close the dimensions, aren't you?" he asked softly, waiting for one of the dragons to nod.

"Just me," the most scarred of the blue beasts murmured, looking around with terrifyingly weary eyes.  "Everyone else has to go."

"But why?" Mana demanded.

"Because of what will happen if one of us dies," another of the group muttered.

"Nice little paradox," a third tacked on.

"There could be quite a few problems if we're too tired to fight after this."

"Besides, how would we win the battle if we don't go back to fight it?"

"We should go back now.  No point in delaying this."

Only Gau, Rowen and Sage understood the simple terrifying implications behind that last statement.  The eleven had to return on the chance that the dimensions couldn't be repaired, that they would still crumble despite Cye's valiant efforts.

The others only watched blankly as eleven of the twelve turned as one to the fogs, lashing out with teal energies and heading back to the beginning of the battle, using the reverberating roar that Cye had issued as a marker to find where they were going.  The roar echoed softly through the eleven portals as they turned to leave, each of them smiling reassuringly at the others as they left, the gates slipping shut silently behind them.

"You guys better appreciate this," the remaining Cye muttered darkly.  "I had to go through that damn fight twelve times."  He began grumbling under his breath softly, looking around at the group in consideration.  _"I want all of you to come with me to the origin of the tear.  We're going to close it."_

_"What about the others?"_ Shinji demanded.  _"Aren't they going to help?"_ he asked, indicating the Ronins and Warlords.

_"No, they are not,"_ Cye said firmly, locking gazes with the ten-year-old boy.  _"I don't want them to get hurt if something goes wrong.  You were brought back to life to protect this world, this dimension."_

_"Am I to go as well?"_ Siellon asked hesitantly, ruby eyes tight.  Cye turned a stern gaze on him, softening when he saw the fear and uncertainty in the dark elf's eyes.

_"Only if you wish to, cousin.  I did not summon you here to fight.  The choice to go is your own."_

Siellon nodded to himself and threw an apologetic glance at Neris before taking his place beside the two remaining Starlight sorcerers, Fung and Mouri.

Not hearing any other complaints, Cye started forward, pausing when he only heard three sets of footsteps following him.  He spun instantly, scowling darkly when he saw the sorcerers of the Midnight Shadows staring at the Starlight sorcerers viciously, Ritsuko and Siellon backing out of the way of the imminent confrontation.  Cye twitched.

_"We do NOT have time for this!"_ he growled, stepping firmly between the two groups, ready to pound them all if necessary.

_"I don't see why _they're_ being bitchy,"_ Fung growled, hefting his tetsubo meaningfully.  _"They're the ones to blame for this whole mess."_

Cye's eyes ignited with his temper, causing several of the Ronins to flinch and step back, worried for their well being.  Mouri wilted under his glare and fell in behind him, dropping both his gaze and his head submissively.  Seeing him, Fung ground his teeth and folded his arms in resignation, still glaring around angrily.  Seillon made a mad sprint to stand beside him, joining what he saw as the safer of the two sides.

_"Well?"_ Cye hissed, rounding on the four sorcerers from the Clan of the Midnight Shadows.  When none of them moved he tried again.  _"You would think that you opposed your clan as it was, refusing to kill Mieren all those years ago."_  Silence greeted him.  Cye began to tremble in a righteous fury, ready to snap.  _"Damn your prides.  Must you destroy reality up to the fifth or sixth dimensions so your egos can thrive?"_ he spat.  Still receiving no answer, he began muttering darkly under his breath.  _"Ritsuko,"_ he called softly.  _"We go alone.  Fall in."_  He hesitated, hating himself for what he was about to ask but knowing the necessity all the same.  "Hey guys, some of you are going to have to come.  Those four bailed out on us."

"I'm in," Dais answered immediately, glaring at his ancestor disgustedly.  Sehkmet nodded firmly, his set jaw belying the fear in his dark eyes.

"I don't know what I'm doing, but you can use me as an energy source," Anubis said firmly, almost daring Cye to tell him to stay behind.

"I'll go," Rowen and Cale said at the same time, arching eyebrows at one another.

"Me too," Sage added, blinking in shock when Cye shook his head.

"You have to stay here in case someone gets hurt by whatever we do."

"Gau and Ella can take care of that," he countered.  Cye shook his head again.

"One more reason you shouldn't go.  You have kids.  And Kayura, Ryo, you're not going either, so don't ask," he growled, oblivious to their grumbling.

"I'll go," Mana offered, throwing a poisonous glare towards the four balking sorcerers, who proceeded to ignore her.

"No, you won't," Cye said firmly.  "You stay and watch Dad.  No telling what will happen when he wakes up."

Mentioning Touma as his father set everyone to fidgeting wildly, no one sure what exactly to say or do.  He pretended like he didn't notice.

_"Hey Neris, did any of the elves make it?"_

_"Um, three, I think,"_ he answered hesitantly.

_"Can any of them cast?  I'm not sure if we have enough people."_

_"They can to some degree, I'm sure.  I can too, but I'm weak and no good at it.  I'll come if you'll permit me, though."_

Cye looked away, seriously considering his friend's offer and hating himself for it.  He was desperate for energy, nodding numbly and knowing that he had just killed his elfin friend.

"I want to go," Akira whispered right beside him, nearly causing Cye to jump out of his skin.  He didn't even blink before shaking his head resolutely.

"You are NOT going," he snapped more forcefully than was strictly necessary.  Akira, though, was undaunted.

"You need the help.  Please, Cye," he breathed, eyes watering slightly.

Cye couldn't meet his gaze, not after what he had done to the boy's father.  When he finally consented to look up, he immediately wished he hadn't, his heart twisting at the pain and desperation on Akira's stricken face.  After watching his father die, he needed some sort of outlet for his grief.  Cye nodded minimally, a mere twitching of his head.

The others watched brokenly as Cye moved just outside of the dome before sinking them all into the ground, heading unerringly towards the origin of the tear in the dimensions.  The four remaining sorcerers turned as one to leave in the opposite direction, disappearing into the horrendously charred trees.

To Be Continued…

Confucious say:  Never raise hands to angry child, it leave groin exposed.

R&R!


	10. Part 10

Dragon Wars

Part 10

By Mieren

"No wonder Mieren turned against them so long ago," Cye muttered darkly as he neared his target, still seething about the four sorcerers refusing to help him.  Mouri placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, not sure if he should say anything.

The bubble shooting through the earth lurched to the side again as Cye struggled to dodge another cord of mist, this one bigger around than he was tall.  Growling to himself, he increased their speed, oblivious to the squirming of the others.

"So how did you survive?" Akira asked suddenly, desperate to break the silence.

Cye didn't even open his eyes as he began to speak slowly.  "From the best I understand it, my soul was strong enough to stay in this plane of existence for the necessary time that it took my shell of a body to conform to it."

"So you're immortal?"

"Not even close.  I'm just too damn ornery to die."

Even as the last words left his mouth, the bubble of stone opened into a cavern, depositing the fifteen into a small bubble of air in the midst of a sea of boiling fog.  Cye immediately sent out a shock wave of energy that forced the deadly tendrils from the room, leaving a nearly opaque pillar of mist in the center of a ragged clearing in the stone, charred marks spreading across the floor and jagged walls.

"Stay behind me," Cye ordered, moving forward before the words were even out of his mouth.  No one objected, forming a semicircle around him instantly and holding their positions as he slowly circled the pillar.

Akira was the first to flare with energy, sending the boiling golden flames directly to Cye, who nodded impatiently as he waited for the others to follow suit.  Mouri followed his example immediately, looking demandingly towards the four light elves and one dark, all of which scrambled to power up.  Fung added his own vivid orange energies to the boiling mass, sapphire strands intermingling with his own as Rowen joined in.  Seeing him begin, the four Warlords decided to try as well, though Cale had to show Anubis what he was doing, unfortunately for him, a bit more forcefully than was necessary.  Seeing what everyone else was doing, Ritsuko shrugged and began as well, summoning Anubis's staff to hand and shrugging unconcernedly at his gaping.

Cye waited until they were all straining massively to donate their energies to him before he began to summon energy, watching warily as the dome groaned and shifted at the mere aura of the power he was holding.

_It's like closing a gateway for teleportation,_ he thought numbly as he snagged the edges of where the dimension still existed and tried to force them together.  He ground his teeth when the edges continued to unravel in his mind's grasp, falling away from each other constantly even as he pushed them together.  He tried tying the ragged strands to one another as though he were dealing with a piece of fabric, eyes tightening with strain when it simply tore at the knots.

The only sound in the dome was that of ragged panting, accented by an occasional whimper when the small clearing groaned under the weight of the earth above it.  Cye was vaguely aware of Akira separating a portion of his mind, but thankfully not strength, from the weave to demand that the stones stayed in place, his eyes flaring golden as he struggled to manipulate that much energy.

Cye snapped two edges together again, blanching when they fell apart again, this time a thread of mist visible where the edges had been.

_Oh God, the fogs.  They're the source of the tearing,_ he realized suddenly, swallowing thickly as he looked around to the ever-spreading creepers, many of which were heading unerringly towards him.  _They have to be called back._

"I need more power," he grated over his shoulder, flinching when he felt the fourteen behind him tearing their minds trying to do as he ordered.  One by one, they began to wilt towards the ground.  In his panther form, Akira's gray fur flashed to a violent gold as he forced himself past what should have been mortal limits, his body beginning to reflect the energies he held.

The Warlords were faring just as badly.  Though they had already long since transformed, their eyes burned with the colors of their magical energies.  Cale was difficult to see as he smoldered with energies, the blue light flaring from his eyes only slightly darker than the usual and navy blue streaks creating strange shading in his hair.  Sehkmet's eyes flared a deep forest green as he hissed angrily, calling forth more power to his already trembling form, his hair rippling through several shades of green, pastels to the deepest jade.  Dais fell to one knee even as his eyes flared with amethyst light, several strands of violet streaking his pearly hair.  Anubis was curled into a ball, alternately cursing and glaring at the fog as coppery highlights appeared in his lank red hair.

Cye forced himself to ignore their pain as he turned back to the fogs, noting wryly that Rowen's eyes and hair already matched his magical energies perfectly, preventing any telltale color changes.  Only the unnatural luminescence to his eyes and the blatant strain on his face conveyed his fierce struggle for control of the surging energies.  An occasional flash of white appeared within the sapphire, sending a surge of energy to Cye.  Rowen flinched with every surge of opal energy, cursing luridly as he fought to maintain consciousness.  All of the elves, however, had collapsed.  Only Siellon and one of the light elves he didn't recognize still appeared to be breathing.  Neris lay crumpled and unmoving, delicate strands of energy still flowing through him even in unconsciousness.  He forced himself to remain calm, reminding himself that the elf couldn't be transferring energy to him if he were dead.  He tried to comfort himself that at least Mouri, Fung and Ritsuko seemed to know what they were doing well enough to withstand the brutal powers he was now drawing forcibly through them.

He tried to close the hole again with no better luck, his eyes watering in denial when the ragged edges of reality continued to evade his controlling mind.  He still wasn't strong enough.  A sudden surge of energy nearly snapped his reeling mind, causing him to drop roughly to the stones below, panting unsteadily for breath.

Flashes of crystalline green, navy, copper and violet flared to life behind him in time with the energies, making Cye glance over his shoulder numbly.  The four sorcerers of the Midnight Shadows stood behind the others, donating their energies directly to him, hard expressions painting their faces.  He was about to lash out at them in retaliation for their earlier abandonment when it hit him.  They had left to make sure that he would bring the others, knowing that their combined energies wouldn't be enough to close the hole.  He ground his teeth and spun to face the advancing fogs, forcing them back into the pillar brutally.

_"It took you long enough,"_ he spat over his shoulder, not taking his eyes from the fogs again.  _"How did you even get here without an earth master?"_

_"The earth opened willingly for us,"_ Shinji snapped impatiently, his vivid blue eyes narrowing angrily.  _"Do you even know what you're doing?"_

_"Of course not,"_ he growled, forcing one of the smaller unraveled sections together and holding it in place until he felt the tear mend.  _"Do you?"_

_"We have no more idea what to do than you, Child of Mouri,"_ Kenji called out in a strained voice, flames leaping higher about him.  _"We've never had to do this."_

_"Great,"_ Cye snarled sarcastically, shattering his conscious mind into a multitude of fragments and sending them out to work on the individual rents in the dimension.  He quickly found his mind ranging through several new dimensions, passing through the fourth within the first few seconds of working.  His mind nearly went blank when he followed the cracks in reality into the fifth dimension.  Only having time to gasp in protest, he slumped to the floor when his mind passed across the sixth dimension, his turquoise eyes rolling back in his head as he fought for control.

Pearly strands shot out from the riddled stone towards him, several making contact with his scaled hide.  Snarling in pain and frustration, he slashed at the strands, blinking uncomprehendingly at the holes in his scales and flesh alike, blood pooling on the floor from some of the horrendously deep holes.

Trying to remain oblivious to the pain shredding his mind and body, he forced himself to retain consciousness, his eyes sliding open as he tried to observe his success.  He only managed to raise his head far enough to see the infernal column of mist, unaffected by his frantic efforts.  Grinding his teeth and spitting out a few choice phrases, he steeled himself to begin again, freezing when a ripple of opal energy passed through the pillar of mist just beyond his reach.  A hole appeared in the milky depths, the blackness a shocking contrast to the endless white.

Willing to work with anything that wasn't the endless white mist, Cye began sending his energies into strengthening the darkness.  The hole surged in size, making him seriously wonder if doing that had been such a good idea.  He was about to work on closing it with the rest of the column when a horribly scorched mass fell out of the blackness, rolling a short distance from the fog before slumping brokenly against the mutilated stone.  Cye's expression turned murderous when he made out the black scales.

"Lanfear," he spat, teal eyes flashing brighter as he realized how Nasus and Talpa had come back to life so suddenly.  He lashed out at the bloody heap, scowling darkly when it jerked out of the way at the last second.

"Damn it, Cye," she spat, heaving herself upright and locking gazes with him.  "It was bad enough when Talpa and Nasus did that.  I do NOT need you trying to fry me too."

"Mieren?" Rowen asked, staggering a few steps forward before stopping warily.

"Yeah," she muttered wearily, trotting over to stand beside the small group, Cye watching her intently the entire time.  She couldn't help smiling widely at the squirming sorcerers and elves.  "Hey, haven't seen you four in some time.  What's it been?  Three thousand years?" she asked companionably, chuckling when both Tari and Kusen stepped back.  She paused when she came across Akira, fingering his golden hair incredulously.  "It looks like you guys need some help."

"What was your first hint?" Sehkmet asked dryly, pulling a lock of mottled hair in front of his eyes and sniffing loudly.

"Like you have room to bitch," Dais grumped.  "At least your hair isn't purple."

"You can bleach it later," Mieren snapped.  "Cye, you seem to know what you're doing.  Continue."

Cye glared at her frostily for a moment before complying, knowing that he didn't have time to argue the point.  With the current state of the dimension, it didn't much matter if it was Mieren or not.  If it wasn't her, he'd deal with her later.

*     *     *

"Ryo," Gau said carefully.  "You're a master of fire, right?"

"Yeah," he drawled, not seeing what had prompted the question.  Gau began looking around to the others, eyes narrowing in consideration as he looked to the fog filled skies again.

"Mia," he asked suddenly.  "Do you think that you, White Blaze and Chimera could outrun the fogs if the rest of us left?"

Mia blinked at the unexpected question, hesitating before answering.  "I think so.  For a little while, anyway."

Nodding to himself, Gau wandered over to Touma and healed him thoroughly, the weaves he laid upon the older man nothing short of incomprehensible and inconceivably elaborate.  He hesitated before shaking him roughly, nimbly evading the blows thrown in his direction when the older man woke up suddenly.

"He's as bad as Rowen," Sage muttered, getting ready to intervene when Touma jumped to his feet and prepared to tackle whatever it was that had had the audacity to try to wake him.  Touma blinked at him groggily, muttering under his breath and flopping back to the ground as though to go back to sleep.

"Looks like you fixed him," Mana said slowly, eyes narrowing.  "Why couldn't you have done that sooner?"

"We didn't know he was that messed up before," Mia said in his defense.  "And we were all kind of busy when we finally figured it out."

"Gau's more talented than his father," Ryo teased, grinning widely when Sage made a face and threw him an inappropriate gesture.

"Dad," Gau called out demandingly, causing Sage to sigh loudly and haul Touma to his feet forcibly.

"Lemme go," Touma slurred, squirming slightly to free himself.

"No way.  Gau wants you for some reason, so you're going to stay awake."

"Don't I have a say in this?"

"Not a chance," Gau snapped.  "Whatever Cye is doing, he's losing and he needs help.  Kayura should be able to find him since he has Ritsuko and Anubis with him."

That was all it took to get Touma up and moving.  He went from oblivious to full attention in the time that it took him to wrench his arm out of Sage's grasp.

"When do we leave?" he asked, cracking his knuckles loudly.

"Ryo?" Gau asked sweetly.

"Yes?" came the wary response.

"You ready?"

"Yeah."

"Would you care to get us over there?"

"How?" he asked patiently.

Gau sighed loudly.  "You said you were a fire master, right?  So open up the ground and take us to the others."  Several incredulous glances passed around the group before Ella broke the silence.

"And what makes you think he can do that?"

"The loop of the elemental abilities," he said patiently.  "I'll explain later.  Ryo, if you would."

Ryo sighed dejectedly and looked at the ground, blinking in shock when it snapped open and swallowed the group of eight, leaving behind only Mia and the two great cats.  Within moments, they were speeding through the stony depths of the earth.

"That's pretty neat," Touma muttered, sitting gingerly in the granite sphere.

"No kidding," Sage said dryly.  "You're pretty good at this, Ryo."

"Thanks," Ryo said slowly.  "But I'm not doing it."

*     *     *

Cye nearly jumped out of his skin when the earth opened up just to his right, producing eight people he hadn't expected to see here.  He scowled darkly, trying to keep from screaming in a rage when he saw his friends, parents and the children alike, join the ever-growing group assembling behind him.

"Damn it, I told you not to come," he snarled over his shoulder, wincing when he saw Neris unsuccessfully trying to regain his feet before losing consciousness again.

He didn't continue with his protests when they joined the group, adding their own magical energies to the swirling mass building behind him.  He closed his eyes and accepted the new sources of power, reminding himself to pound them later if he survived.  The amount of power coursing through his veins threatened to annihilate him completely if he lost control even for an instant.

Swallowing nervously, he began again, eyes tightening in pain as the folds of skin hanging from his skeletal form slowly wizened and sagged, graying rapidly as the seconds ticked on.  White light flared in response behind him just before he wilted to the ground, Mieren moving forward to support him gingerly as she called more power to her trembling form than he had ever seen her handle.  Cye couldn't help but stare as he noticed her raven black scales shift to the purest opal, quickly paling until they rivaled the snowy mane spilling across her shoulders.

"Hurry, Cye.  The dimensions fall," she breathed into his ear, her expression so soft and trusting that he flinched before nodding.  They were all killing themselves to undo the damage he had unwittingly caused.  Even Mieren, who had seen as invincible until this war, was dying from the sheer amount of energy she held.

"I will not fail you again," he whispered, closing his eyes and extending his consciousness into the furthest reaches of the splintering dimensions.  He was only vaguely aware of slumping bonelessly into Mouri's arms as the world slowly faded to black.

*     *     *

Ryo hissed in agony and crumpled to the stone floor jerkily, his eyes beginning to glaze as the strength necessary to draw the powers he held drained him completely.  He caught a glimpse of scuffed orange and brown armor in his blurred vision, vaguely recognizing Fung as the source.  Vivid golden orange energies surrounded him, easing the pain in his mind as the world bucked around him wildly and faded to black.

*     *     *

Ritsuko spat out a curse as she gathered the three youngest children around her, pulling Ryo's and Sage's children close to her as the energies being pulled from them flared ever higher.  She glanced over at Akira, wishing fervently that she could do something for him but realizing that she could protect no more than three.  Normally, she should have been able to handle more, but the three clinging to her tenaciously were stronger than she had thought possible and thus required all of her strength.  She had lived once already, long ago, and felt that the present generation had more of a right to live than she did.

Tari saw her glance and moved over to the Child of Fung, shielding the trembling boy with his own violet energies.  He fell to his knees beside the boy, the golden energies flaring around them rising ever higher as Akira struggled to help close the tear.  Ritsuko winced, seeing the older man's strain in protecting the much stronger youth and wondering if either of them could survive the power coursing relentlessly through their minds.

She grinned weakly when she noticed that the young sorcerer Shinji had gathered the five elves about him, only two of which she knew from listening to Cye.  She relaxed slightly knowing that five innocents would survive the carnage.  She strengthened her defenses hopelessly as the dimension rippled and faded to black.

*     *     *

Dais clung fiercely to his best friend, praying that Sehkmet would survive the brutal powers they were battling.  They had known the dangers when offering to go, but he had prayed that it wouldn't be this bad.  He looked up as the world around him darkened, his eyes falling on a forest green mop of hair as Kusen wrapped them up in an armored embrace, his last efforts falling to a desperate attempt to protect them.

*     *     *

Cale blinked up at a near mirror image of himself as his ancestor skidded to a halt beside him, Anubis draped limply across his shoulders.  Kenji only smiled at him reassuringly as he deposited his cargo and extended a shield across them, easing the energies they held to himself.  Ever so slowly, he wilted to the floor beside them as the meager light in the cave vanished in a rolling of reality.

*     *     *

Sapphire flames met silvery blue when Rowen and Touma began clustering everyone together frantically, their combined strength protecting the minds of those they were collecting.  Sage blinked at them blearily before adding his own emerald power to the boiling mass of magics.  Light blue and a vivid bronze entered the fray as Mana and Kayura contributed to their defenses.  The cluster of five only watched numbly as Cye spasmed in Mouri's arms, the world going black as he lost consciousness in his battle with the shredded dimensions.

To Be Continued…

Be nice to me.  I might just develop psychokinetic powers and destroy Tokyo.


	11. Part 11

Dragon Wars

Part 11

By Mieren

Akira's eyes fluttered open weakly, awarding him with a clear view of the delicate shivering of new grass in the early morning breeze.  He reached forward gingerly to finger the quivering blades incredulously, wondering how anything could be so calm after what had happened.  He smiled weakly and set about levering himself to his feet, dislodging an unmoving weight wrapped firmly about him.  Upon closer inspection, he found the cold weight to be an empty suit of armor, Dais's ancestor nowhere to be seen.

Tottering unsteadily, he wandered over to the closest group of people, still squinting in the morning light as he plunked down by Touma and began the impossible ritual of waking him.  When he only issued a loud snore, Akira smiled in wry amusement and shook his head wearily.  He continued to torment the sleeping man, finally settling on pinching his nose shut and covering his mouth, arching one eyebrow when Touma tried to breathe through his hand for a moment.  The blue-haired man choked and jerked upright suddenly, blinking uncertainly at him.  Grinning in response, Akira began the same procedure with Rowen.

Touma grumbled a few things at him that made Akira chuckle softly, his cheeks heating at the expletives.  Rowen jumped up suddenly, knocking Akira clear of himself before promptly falling over and landing on Mana, who slapped him in her sleep before leaping to her feet reflexively.  Completely off balance from Rowen's initial shove, Akira tumbled into Sage and Kayura, waking the startled couple rather roughly.

"You all okay?" Akira asked softly, sighing as he slumped across the ground.  A round of assents answered him, though all were slow in coming.

"What about you?" Touma asked gently, reaching forward to finger a lock of his hair almost hesitantly.

"I'm fine.  Tari was helping me out.  Why do you ask?"

"Your hair is about half gold," Sage muttered.

Akira jerked in shock and rolled his eyes to get a better look at his bangs, eyebrows rising when he saw the speckled gold and silver.  He made a face.

"At least it looks neat," he said dryly, glancing around.  "We should probably check on the others," he said suddenly.  The others nodded in agreement, rising somewhat stiffly as they looked around the empty field.

"By the way," Mana called out as she tried to shake Ryo awake.  "Where are we?"  When she only received several shrugs and confused noises, she made a face and proceeded to torment Ryo.  Touma looked up from studying the empty Armor of Hardrock to glance around, as baffled as anyone.

Sage had headed straight to where Ritsuko was still sprawled across Ella, Gau and Nasuti, Kayura by his side as they checked on their children.  After several groans, expletives, and one 'I don't want to go to school today,' the group of four was awake, though they all looked as though they would like nothing more than to take week-long naps.

Bored of studying the empty armor, Touma began harassing Cale and Anubis, intent on waking them.  He spent several minutes tinkering with Cale's hair, fascinated by the swirling shades of blue that now made up the coloring.  The copper highlights in Anubis's hair seemed to similarly fascinate him.  He promptly began tormenting the unconscious man beside them when they showed signs of rousing, his brows furrowing when he was unable to rouse the blue-haired sorcerer.

Ryo, naturally, had made a mad sprint over to Nasuti upon waking, leaving Mana to rouse Sehkmet and Dais, the latter of which she gave up trying to awaken after struggling with him for several minutes.  Grumbling to herself, she left Sehkmet to the task of getting his best friend up and moving, both of them making a point of not looking at the empty armor beside them.  Kusen was nowhere to be seen.

Ritsuko placed one hand on the empty armor lying beside five unmoving elfin bodies, closing her eyes sadly when she didn't see the young sorcerer.  She knew perfectly well what his absence signified.  He, as well as several of the others, had disintegrated themselves trying to protect the Ronins and Warlords, taking on more power than they could handle.  Sighing, she set about waking the surviving elves.

The dark elf was by far the easiest to get up, nearly jumping out of his skin when she placed a hand on his shoulder to shake him.  The blue-haired light elf didn't respond in the slightest when she shook him, but she could see the shallow rise and fall of his chest.  Upon examination, she found that two of the three remaining elves were still alive, though she could only awaken the brunette.  The blond didn't do more than groan and swat at her blindly, obviously too sore to even consider getting up.  The white-haired elf was the only one of the group that hadn't made it, his magical abilities too slight to withstand the energy that Shinji had been unable to compensate for.

Rowen, understandably, had begun looking around wildly immediately upon awakening, intent on finding Mieren and Cye.  Akira ran beside him, occasionally catching him when he stumbled, the older man being far too tired to be running around like he was.  Naturally, it was not helping that they were nowhere to be seen.  No one was helping them look at the moment either, most everyone being far too tired to do more than remain sitting upright, let alone running around wildly.

Tired of running around like an idiot, Akira grabbed Rowen's arm and forced him to come to a halt.  Sniffing loudly at how easily he was able to pin the older man, he began asking the earth where the three missing people were.

_Where exactly are Mieren, Cye and Mouri?_

How should I know?

Akira blinked, unused to getting such a sarcastic answer from what Mouri had told him was an earth elemental while they had been watching Cye fight.  Taking an uncertain breath, he tried again.

_Come on.  You've always been able to tell me where they were before.  Why not now?  Are they not on the ground?_

Once again, how should I know?  What do you think I am?  A road map?

That was most definitely not the answer he had been expecting.  Utterly baffled by the twisted humor and amused responses he was receiving, he decided to try one of the questions to which he had never gotten a straight answer.

_Who is this?_

That depends on what your definition of 'is' is.

Akira made a face, not noticing when Rowen finally managed to squirm free and began shaking him to get his attention.

_That is not an answer!_ Akira all but shrieked.

You seriously don't know?

_NO!_

There was a long pause before he received a response.  When it finally came, the thought was so shocked and confused that the emotions nearly overpowered the sending.

It's Dad.

Akira froze, both mentally and physically, his shock so overwhelming that it broke all connection with Kento.  It took him another few minutes to realize that Rowen was frantically trying to get his attention.

"You okay?"

Akira blinked at the question, slowly bringing his eyes into focus.  Unable to speak past the lump in his throat, he nodded numbly.  Finally getting his vision to clear, he noticed that he was surrounded by almost all of the others who were up to moving.  Taking a shaky breath, he asked something that was tearing him up inside.

_What happened?_

I was saved by the earth elemental, I think.

_Where are you?_

I'll tell you as soon as I figure that one out.  I'm working on it.

Akira snapped to attention when he was backhanded sharply, scowling darkly at the blue-haired man responsible for his stinging cheek.  Rowen's worried face came into view when he forced his vision into focus and he grimaced, feeling guilty about being angry with someone who was only worried about him.  He smiled apologetically.

"I have good news," he offered softly, grinning wearily.  "Dad's okay."

Eyes bulged and jaws dropped.  Several people in the group actually slid to the ground in shock.

"Akira," Ryo began slowly, unsure of what to say and trailing off quickly.

Akira, however, was not paying attention, looking instead to the ground and grinning to himself.  Worried glances passed over his head as he waited expectantly.  Ritsuko opened her mouth to say something when the ground opened mere feet from where Akira sat, a very dirty, and very naked, Kento pulling himself out of the earth.

"Dad!" Akira cried out joyously, darting forward to crush him in a bear hug, the Ronins and Warlords right behind him.  Kento tried to fend them off unsuccessfully, his attempts to pry one person free only leaving him open for the next.

"Get offa me!" he cried out irately, seriously considering sinking back into the ground.  He stuck out his lip in a ludicrous pout as he waited, sniffing loudly when he finally decided he had everyone's attention.  "Now," he said firmly.  "Where is Cye?"

"We can't find him," Touma murmured, glancing around the field and wondering once again where exactly they were.

"Then shouldn't you be looking?"

"We took a break when Akira started talking to you," Rowen muttered defensively.  "Or at least we think that's who he was talking to."

"What happened to you, anyway?" Ryo asked suddenly, sitting down gently beside him with Nasuti curled up possessively in his arms.  Kento opened his mouth to respond but was beat to the answer by Anubis, who was still trying to regain his staff from Ritsuko.

"The earth elemental protected him.  I believe that it brought us to the surface when Cye passed out."

 "Umm, I kinda did that," Kento muttered softly, not sure if he wanted to be heard.

"Then where is Cye?" Mana asked sweetly.  Kento flinched.

"I have no idea.  I just moved everyone skyward, not overly paying attention to little details like where."

"Ooh, bad answer," Dais said groggily, still being more than half supported by Sehkmet, who didn't look overly steady himself.

"Stuff it, you purple-haired freak," she growled over her shoulder from where she continued to shake Kento.  "Where is my son?"

Dais sniffed loudly and fingered one of the lavender streaks in his once snowy hair, muttering something under his breath that was distinctly not anything Akira was willing to repeat if he valued his health.

Kento was saved from her wrath when Gau poked Sage in the ribs and whispered something to him, the two blonds exchanging knowing smirks.

_"Hey Ritsuko,"_ Gau called out loudly.  _"Where are White Blaze and Chimera?"_

The ancient guardian blinked at the unexpected question.  _"What?"_

_"The guardian's companions.  Where are they?  They can help us find Cye.  Besides, Mia is with them and I think that Ryo would kinda like to know if she's alright."_

Through the entire exchange, Mana had been watching them carefully, an irritated tick beginning in her cheek.  She barely waited for Gau to finish his last sentence before exploding.

"Well?"

"She's gonna look for White Blaze and Chimera so that they can find him," Gau offered meekly, worried for his well being.

_"Give me that,"_ Ritsuko growled, tugging on the staff that Anubis had somehow managed to get away from her.  An epic match of tug-of-war ensued, ending when Kenji smacked Anubis in the back of the head with an open palm, causing him to loose his grip in shock.  No longer holding the staff, he was immediately off balance and toppled backwards, effectively pinning Kenji to the ground amid a barrage of swearing in two languages.  Both Sehkmet and Dais were laughing uproariously as they tried to untangle to two before they killed each other.  Cale settled on rolling his eyes.

She had barely raised the staff into the air before both of the great cats bounded lightly over to the group, Mia atop of the white tiger.  Ritsuko jerked in shock, looking around to the others demandingly.  Ryo shrugged innocently.

"Well, I can hear him," he said defensively.  Ritsuko stared at him blankly until Rowen gave in and translated for her, earning himself a curious look.  She had not known that any of the people in this dimension could speak her native tongue.

Mia was off of White Blaze and running even before he came to a complete stop, all but squishing both her husband and daughter in her eagerness to see them.  Chimera looked at the tangle of arms and legs curiously with something akin to a smile on her face before issuing the equivalent of a shrug and wandering over to Ritsuko.  She immediately turned and left once more, vanishing from the field and into the distant trees.

Several minutes passed in silence while the awaited the leopard's return, all of the survivors to the battle squirming uncomfortably.  During this wait, Mana was going nearly ballistic, Touma being utterly unable to calm her alternate fidgeting and blind rages.  A reverberating roar echoed through the still morning air from the distance, causing White Blaze's ears to perk up.  He growled softly and began demandingly nudging Ryo, who was still hopelessly tangled in Mia's arms.

It took mere seconds to get the group organized and following the white tiger.  Everyone conscious was carrying someone or being carried, Neris and the blond elf having yet to awaken despite the visitations of untold tormentors.  Akira more than half supported both Rowen and Touma as they led the mad charge after the lightly galloping tiger.  After nearly kissing the ground three times, he finally became irritated enough to throw the younger of the two men across his shoulders.  Rowen smirked at a squirming Touma happily for a mere moment before Akira tossed him over to his dad.  Kento was more than happy to oblige, ignoring the blows from a protesting Rowen.

After struggling through the collapsing forest, they finally reached a forced clearing, Mieren lying unmoving in the center.  A short distance from her pale form laid Cye, once again in his human form, wrapped protectively in Mouri's arms, the ancient elfin sorcerer refusing to relinquish his hold even in unconsciousness.  Upon seeing them, the group split instantly.

Rowen and Kento swerved instantly towards Mieren, Kenji and the elves in tow.  Ryo and Mia only hesitated a moment before following them, Sage and Kayura following them out of habit more than anything.  This, naturally, brought all of the children with the exception of Akira with them.  Mieren jerked awake after minimal torment, looking around blankly and making a point of studying the clear skies before consenting to let the others examine her.

Upon entering the clearing, Akira had been poked and prodded needlessly until he swerved towards where Cye and Mouri laid unmoving, Ritsuko and the Warlords following wordlessly when Mana began prodding them in his direction relentlessly.  They spent several minutes struggling to awaken Cye, growing increasingly worried when he didn't respond to their presence in the slightest.

"I don't care if he is related to Rowen, this is ridiculous," a soft voice came from behind them, nearly causing Akira to jump out of his skin.  He glanced over his shoulder and grinned ruefully when he saw Mieren clinging unsteadily to Rowen, who was still more than half supported by Kento.  She smiled at him wearily and began the process of waking Mouri, simply tossing the elfin sorcerer a good twenty feet and waiting for the impact to snap him into awareness.  He groaned loudly and began batting at the air blindly, spitting out something vulgar about hangovers that had Mieren chuckling unsympathetically.

_"Isn't he up yet?"_ he grated out, peering over at Cye with bleary eyes.  He frowned irately when several of the people trying to rouse his descendant only shrugged and proceeded to ignore him.  Arching one eyebrow, he forced himself to his knees and began a painful crawl towards the unconscious man, glancing around at the survivors curiously as he moved.

The fact that Ritsuko had survived was no shock.  The guardians were trained exceptionally well, so she knew what she was doing.  He was shocked that one elf out of the five had actually died, his kind being extremely resistant to the arts.  He had known that Fung wouldn't make it, the man being strong enough but not nearly skilled enough to withstand the onslaught.  His jaw openly dropped when he spotted Kenji sprawled across the ground drunkenly, amazed that even a single sorcerer of the Midnight Shadows had survived the inconceivable energies they had been handling.  He had known the clan to be stronger than his own, but the powers coursing through the group should have killed all but the most skilled of those who had designated themselves as protectors.  The man was a prodigy in the arts, impossibly strong or incredibly lucky.  There was no other explanation.

Reaching Cye, he swatted away those trying to wake him with surprising ease, realizing suddenly that they we all suffering from overexertion as surely as he was.  Sighing brokenly, he began by shaking the man gently, eyes softening when Cye didn't stir in response to the gentle rocking.  His shoulders slumped dejectedly when he saw the slightly slurred expression on the younger man's face.

"Cye?" he whispered, watching intently for any change in his expression.  He lifted the gaunt form in his arms, looking up at the descendants of Date demandingly but knowing all the same that there was nothing they could do.  A seared mind could not be healed.  If Cye had exerted himself as badly as he feared, there was nothing that anyone could do.

_"It's not your fault, Mouri,"_ Mieren whispered so that only he could hear.  _"You did everything you could."  _He looked up despondently, the words barely registering in his mind.  She knew as well as he did how badly Cye had hurt himself in mending the dimensional tear.  He could see his own desperation and hopelessness reflected in her broken expression.

_"I know, but what are we going to tell the others?  They don't know yet."_

_"We know,"_ Rowen murmured, settling to the ground beside them.  _"Even if we hadn't seen his fading aura, your expressions are dead giveaways,"_ he whispered, tears finally slipping from his eyes to cut trenches in the dust coating his cheeks.  Mouri didn't resist when the blue-haired man gently took the limp form in his arms and cradled him gently.

White Blaze moved away from his observatory position to nudge them gently, his intelligent eyes demanding an explanation.  Chimera pushed past the others to join him, only snuffling Cye once before letting out a soft keening howl that caused Mouri to shiver slightly.  The mourning note faded from the air as Cye shuddered, his eyes fluttering open weakly from behind lank auburn bangs.

"Cye?" Mana asked brokenly, tears slipping from half-glazed teal eyes as she pulled him free of Rowen's gentle arms.  Touma moved in behind her wordlessly to help her with their horrendously battered and mostly starved son.

"Is it closed?" he mouthed, too weak to even form the simple words.

"The dimensions are closed, Cye," Touma whispered, eyes misting when Cye nodded weakly and relaxed completely in his arms, his eyes sliding shut of their own accord.  Mana clutched his skeletal hand desperately in her own, looking up at the others with a pleading look in her quavering eyes.

"Isn't there anything you can do?" Kayura murmured, prodding Sage in the ribs demandingly with a fixed expression on her face.  Sage only shook his head sadly, knowing that the damages of the incinerating energies were beyond his or Gau's abilities to heal.

_"There is something you can do,"_ a soft voice murmured from a short distance behind the silent group.  _"You can put him out of his misery and save me the trouble."_

The entirety of the group stiffened instantly and spun to face the source of the voice, weapons drawn and held ready.  Lanfear only smirked at them with a sickeningly superior expression painting her face.  Cye spasmed in Touma's arms and tried unsuccessfully to lever himself to his feet.

_"You aren't the only one who can survive the impossible, boy,"_ she sneered, her jade eyes glittering maniacally as she noted the decrepit condition of the survivors.

_"How can you still be alive?"_ Cye grated out, gaining his feet unsteadily with a great deal of help from both Touma and Mana.

_"I was betting that you could repair the damage you caused, so I just moved ahead in time a little ways.  You never actually saw me die, did you?"_ she taunted, moving forward in a steady pace with a blatant lack of concern or respect for the weapons waved in her direction.

Kento sank into the ground suddenly, resurfacing directly in front of her instantly, stone still swirling around him as he formed it into a rough suit of armor.  Lanfear jerked slightly at his instantaneous movement through the ground, hissing in vexation and slashing through his armor and chest alike effortlessly before he could raise his defenses.  He liquefied suddenly and sank into the ground, reforming directly in her path once more with a blatant disregard for his health.  Lanfear hissed angrily and slammed a fist through his chest with no better results in killing him.

_"Damn you, elemental,"_ she spat, taking a swipe at the third Kento to materialize in front of her in so many seconds.

She readied herself to slash a fourth when a whip of air landed across her face, forcing her to take a step back to recover her balance.  Even as she lunged forward towards the unmoving group, she burst into flames as Ryo joined Rowen in his elemental defenses.  Tendrils of light wrapped firmly about her form even as she shrugged out of the outer layer of her skin to escape the relentless flames.

Anubis burst into copper flames as he began concentrating fiercely, roots and branches reaching for Lanfear from where she still struggled with the weaves of light.  She spat out a curse when she was bound more firmly to the ground, raging at herself for being too weary to fight properly against the elemental masters.  She eyed Anubis in a mixture of loathing and curiosity, wondering how she could have missed realizing that the man was a master of plant and animal life.  She was suddenly grateful that the masters of poison, darkness and illusion would be unable to help as greatly in the battle, the first's powers completely useless on short notice and the others' attacks not effective against her in the slightest.

Roaring furiously, she slipped into her dragon form once more and leapt into the group that had the audacity to oppose her.  Her claws clicked off of armors of light harmlessly as she slashed at everything in her reach, struggling to get to the most powerful person of the group.  The Child of Mouri was too dangerous for her to allow him to recover.  Her slashes, though unable to shred the flesh of the defenders due to that infernal armor, were sufficiently powerful to bowl everyone she hit off of their feet, usually into someone else.  She smirked at their efforts, wondering what idiot had taught them how to fight.  Any novice in combat knew that you didn't crowd whomever you were attacking if they were strong enough to easily knock over a half a dozen people with a single blow.

Mouri's sudden attack nearly startled her out of her wits.  She hadn't expected him to be in any shape to gather sufficient energies to counterattack.  Even as she rounded on him, a navy fireball slammed into her ribs, bowling her over as Kenji joined the battle.  She rolled immediately to her feet, throwing twin attacks towards each of them haughtily before continuing with her relentless advance.

Golden fires rose from the ground as Akira joined them, his seemingly limitless energies finally reaching an end as he leveled a single blast in her direction, the power rolling harmlessly off of her strategically unfurled wing.  He collapsed instantly under her counterattack, too weary to withstand even the weakest blow.  Lanfear laughed openly when she noticed that many of those hit had yet to regain their feet.  Only Kento and Ritsuko appeared to still be moving, neither of which was a real threat.  No longer significantly opposed, she headed unerringly towards her initial target.

Cye pulled free of Touma and Mana as she neared him, almost slumping to the ground immediately upon losing their support.  Only his sheer will and stubbornness kept him on his feet and moving forward.

_"You expect to fight, Child of Mouri?"_ she growled contemptuously, slashing the roots holding her after a moment's concentration.  Anubis continued with his interrupting attacks, a deer charged out of the woods, crying out softly as it moved to ram her with its shoulders.  Lanfear only sneered haughtily as she swatted it effortlessly away from herself, turning back to Cye as he continued to struggle to remain upright.  _"You can barely stay on your feet, let alone challenge me."_

Cye, however, was not paying attention.  He closed his eyes as he began chanting something he had prayed he would never be forced to use again.  "Allayensus mierna cumienama.  Neda cumiendis yenalli iessan amasen.  Andienmier."

_"What in the hell are you doing?"_ Lanfear cried out, backing up and readying a portal.  Her eyes bulged when the portal was slashed by the purest white flames, Mieren coming into her view for the first time.  _"You'll kill yourself if you finish casting that, Child of Mouri,"_ she growled in desperation, realizing suddenly she had made a fatal mistake.  She had severely underestimated her opponents.

Cold turquoise eyes locked with her jade, the flames raging around Cye burning every brighter and higher.  He raised one hand in her direction as the energies of the teal fires gathered around his fingertips.

"Exodus."

The raging energies suddenly formed into a glowing sphere smaller than his armor orb, shooting forward from his fingers to slam into Lanfear with devastating force.  She whimpered as she sank to the ground, her muscles and internal organs liquefied by the blast.  Her eyes were glazed in death before she reached the ground.

Cye crumpled as the last word of the spell left his lips, wilting to the cool ground even as the energies he gathered left his hands.  Mana all but ran over Touma in getting to him before he reached the earth, launching herself forward to stop his unhindered fall.  Somehow, Mieren managed to reach him before the younger woman, wrapping her arms around him protectively and pulling him close.  White flames rose around the pair in a blinding conflagration of power as she vainly strove to heal what could not be healed.

"It's all right," he breathed, forcing his eyes open with a great deal of effort.  "It's finally over, Mieren.  After all of these years, it's over," he whispered, smiling weakly.  "I fought alone, I summoned the ancient sorcerers, and the fires flickered and died when I called myself back in time with a single cry as a dragon.  'Fires rise and fires die, falling to the dragon's cry.'  The premonition has been fulfilled," he murmured, knowing the words and meanings of his own premonitions for the first time.  Mana cried out softly and took him away from Mieren, her turquoise eyes glazed with tears.  She knew as well as he did that he was dying.

"Why couldn't you have let us fight?" she demanded, her eyes glistening with unshed tears.  "Why did you have to cast that spell?"

"It wouldn't have mattered if I had or not," he murmured, gripping her hand in his own with what little strength he could summon.  Mana flinched and shook her head in denial.  She knew the truth behind his words but refused to accept it.  Touma looped one arm around her shoulders as he knelt beside them, his throat constricting beyond words.

Rowen looked around the group blankly, his hollow gaze conveying a message that no words could have.  Sage was the first to turn and walk away, pulling Kayura and his children with him.  Broken glances passed between the others before they followed his example, moving to the edge of the clearing to leave Cye alone with his family.  Kento paused in passing to squeeze his friend's shoulder gently, wanting more than anything to make sure that his best friend knew that he hadn't died on the battlefield.  Mouri, family though he was in a way, followed the others to leave his descendant with his parents and grandparents, pulling the two great cats along beside him.

Cye watched the others leave with a slightly wistful expression on his face, brightening slightly when he saw Kento pause beside him.  He had thought he had seen Kento fighting Lanfear, but he hadn't been sure.  It was a great relief to know that his best friend had actually survived the carnage.  Though he couldn't actually feel the change in pressure, he was vaguely aware that his shoulder had been squeezed.

Mana knew that he could no longer hear the gentle words she was murmuring in his ear but continued to speak regardless.  Tears finally slipped from her eyes when Cye began to tremble slightly in her arms, his eyes growing increasingly clouded as the seconds passed.  He sighed softly once and went limp in her arms, his eyes sliding shut as his heart slowed and stopped.

There was a moment of silence before White Blaze's howl rose into the still air, the great cat knowing what had happened even without seeing.  Chimera's soft cry rose alongside his, the once pure note of her voice trembling with her loss.

Heads bowed among the Ronins and Warlords as the cries first rose into the cool air, the elves and surviving sorcerers falling to their knees in respect for the departed.  Siellon stared ahead blankly, tears streaming from his eyes as the first friend he had ever made slumped into his mother's arms.  He was completely oblivious to the comforting arm Neris slipped around his shoulders, closing his crimson eyes and silently asking why he had survived when so many others had not.

Touma was the first to see the pale glistening appearing on Cye's skin, the sheen growing in intensity until it became nearly blinding.  Sparks of turquoise rose into the air with increasing intensity, becoming so bright that Mana was forced to relinquish her hold on him and take a few steps back, though Touma had to keep a firm hold on her arm to keep her from moving back to his side.

"Mieren, what's going on?" Rowen murmured demandingly, sapphire eyes wide.

"I don't know.  I've never seen anything like this in all my three thousand years."

During their short interchange, the light building around Cye had more than tripled, reaching an intensity that threatened to blind anyone who persisted on watching.  The illumination continued to build until one by one, everyone turned away from the piercing brilliance.  Even turned away, it soon became necessary for those gathered to cover their eyes as well.

Mana jerked slightly as something wound around her ankle, creeping up her shin at an alarming speed.  She swatted it away roughly, fearing it was a snake.  Her blind swing succeeded in swatting away a stray vine and slapping a thick mass of nearly knee-high grass.  Shocked, she opened her eyes to an incredible scene.

Both the grass and surrounding trees were growing wildly, gaining height and mass visibly as she watched in awe.  She realized suddenly that the blinding glow emanating from Cye had lessened to a gentle luminescence that lit the area for miles around and was still spreading.

"What…" she began, trailing off when a bloodied deer levered itself off of the ground a ways from her, the wounds along its sleek frame healing suddenly.  Its ears swiveled forward upon seeing her and it let out a soft noise, spinning nimbly to vanish into the trees.

"We're in the eye of the storm," Mieren murmured at her shoulder, nearly causing her to jump out of her skin.

"Storm?" she asked meekly, eyes threatening to bulge out of her head.

"Whatever Cye's doing," Rowen said somewhat breathlessly, still watching the spreading of the enormous dome.  The edge of the glowing sphere had reached the horizon and showed no signs of slowing.

"Cye?" Mana whispered, tears spilling unheeded down her cheeks.

Both Mieren and Rowen nodded slowly, looking back at the perfect sphere of turquoise light where Cye had lain.  Every now and then, a small shock wave was emitted from the glowing orb, sending a ripple of new growth through the plant life.  Many of the trees had already passed hundreds of feet in height and still appeared to be growing.

With the next pulse of energy, Mana became aware of the weariness enveloping her fading rapidly, vanishing completely before the next wave passed her.  The bruises and lacerations along her limbs vanished just as surely as they had on the deer, leaving her in perfect health.  She noticed suddenly that everyone was slowly straightening, even the elves that she had not believed would survive their mental searing.  Rowen's scarred arm burst into light suddenly, the black veins running through his flesh igniting in sapphire light that continued to brighten until it was nearly blinding.  Flakes of the light slowly broke free, flaring slightly in the air before fading away.  The barrage of glitter ended suddenly, leaving him staring numbly at the pale lines of untanned flesh where the streaks of obsidian had been for the better part of his life.

Another pulse seemed to focus solely on Ritsuko, Mouri and Kenji, their armors erupting into virtual bonfires, splintering and falling away from them in the span of a few seconds.  All three of those engulfed in light nearly had nervous breakdowns when the armor vanished, leaving them standing in old, and extraordinarily strange, garments.  Ritsuko appeared to be wearing her own weight in cloth, the countless folds in her robes seeming ludicrous when compared to the skimpy armor she had been wearing.  Mouri was left standing in supple gray and tan leather designed to blend in with rocky terrain, appearing as though it could withstand fairly serious blows and conceal numerous small weapons.  Kenji was left in the most normal garb, relatively, of the three, the main section ending abruptly mid-thigh to ensure his movements were unhindered.  The strangely long and billowing sleeves and leather straps on his wrists spoke of weapons hidden in the loose fabric.

The next wave concentrated on the guardian, sorcerers, and elves, vivid teal sparks swirling around them for a mere moment before vanishing once more.  As far as Mana could tell, it hadn't done anything.

A deathly silence ensued, so complete as to make the very act of breathing seem hideously loud.  In the total absence of sound and movement of the wind, it suddenly occurred to the observers that the plants no longer grew.  A final shock wave shot past them at an impossible speed, bowling them cleanly off of their feet instantly and flattening the grass to the ground momentarily.  When the aftershocks of the wave finally passed, the only sound that could be heard was the soft rustling of the grass in the gentle morning breeze.

The single cry of an infant pierced the stillness suddenly, causing Mana to stiffen, her liquid aqua eyes growing wide.  She took a hesitant step towards the source of the sound, her eyes scanning the waist high grass frantically.  White Blaze's rumble directed her more accurately in the direction she sought and she broke into a sprint towards where he continued to snuffle something on the ground.  She skidded to a halt just before running over the source of the single cry, a hesitant and disbelieving smile appearing on her face.

An auburn haired infant blinked up at her from a small clearing in the impossibly tall grass, squealing happily and reaching up in a demanding gesture.  She obediently pushed Chimera's huge head back and lifted the infant into her arms, oblivious to White Blaze's summoning call and the mad sprinting of the others.

Being the closest, Touma, Rowen and Mieren were the first to reach her, followed immediately by Ryo and Nasuti, all of them staring at the bundle in her arms in absolute shock.  The others arrived only seconds later, dumbfounded expressions settling on their faces as surely as the first to arrive.  Mieren broke the silence with a fit of uproarious laughter, tears streaming down her cheeks as she strove to contain her mirth.  Only after developing a case of hiccups did she manage to convey the joke.

"Cye did it," she giggled, draping herself merrily across Rowen for support she desperately needed.

"Did what?" Touma asked slowly, completely stumped.

"He passed the level that no one has ever reached, save the elementals," she cried out in an unsteady voice, laughter bubbling out of her again despite her efforts.

"Level?" Mana asked, beginning to grow irked.

"Don't you get it?" Mieren asked slowly, still struggling to keep the amusement out of her voice and still failing miserably.  "The mixing of three powerful bloodlines produced Cye, who has just proved himself as the most powerful entity in existence."

"One of the true immortals," Sage breathed.  Mieren nodded instantly and resumed giggling, flopping back in the grass and holding her sides as another fit of laughter overtook her.

"What does this mean for Cye?" Mana asked, prodding Mieren with her toe.

Mieren looked up at her from beneath her snowy locks, noticing for the first time that her hair had permanently changed color from the sheer amounts of energy she had been holding.  She glanced around the group before answering, making a mental note to tease Dais about the light purple streaks tainting his once pearly hair.  She had to admit, though, that all three of the other Warlords looked truly interesting with the various degrees of shading through their hair.  She was beyond shocked that none of the Ronins or children, with the notable exception of Akira, retained similar markings.

"That he cannot die, for one," she said slowly, growing serious for the first time.  "If he did, he'd simply reappear as an infant again.  And in case you're wondering, in time, he will remember everything that has happened, though that time will most likely not come until he is in his early twenties again.  Once he learns to sufficiently use his powers, he'll stop aging, in theory.  I've never met a true immortal, with the exception of some of the elementals, which Kento has seen fit to join the ranks of."

"Say what?" Ritsuko asked slowly, her eyes glued to the Ronin in question, who was still quite naked.  In her shock of the situation, it took her a full few seconds to realize she had just spoken in Japanese.  Mieren resumed snickering when she saw the woman's confused expression.

"I fear to say that the little rugrat did that too," she hooted, prodding the ancient guardian in the shoulder.  "One of the shock waves he sent out brought an understanding of Japanese to everyone from my dimension.  Ingenious little munchkin, isn't he?"

"I'll say," Mouri murmured, moving forward to poke his descendant in the side gently.  The infant Cye squealed happily and reached out to him demandingly.  Mana looked at him sternly before passing the tiny Cye to him, her expression softening when he wrapped a chubby little fist in Mouri's hair and tugged mightily, earning a sour, if amused, expression from the elfin sorcerer.

"What was this about an elemental?" Kento asked sweetly, plucking Cye out of Mouri's arms as he passed and studying him with a bemused expression.  The baby squealed and proceeded to blow bubbles with his saliva, causing Kento to throw him an almost fatherly look.  Mieren only rolled her eyes at the expression on his face.

"How do you think you survived when your soul was ripped from your body?  The elemental liked you, earth master.  It did something that I have never before seen an elemental do."

"Complete unification of the souls," Ritsuko murmured, her expression growing thoughtful.  "Interesting."

"Not quite," Mieren corrected, taking Cye from Kento so she could have a turn holding her grandson.

"Well?" Akira asked, pushing a lock of mottled silver and gold hair out of his eyes impatiently.

"The elemental submitted to him," she said slowly, so enthralled in studying Kento that she failed to notice him reclaiming the infant in her arms.  "He is the elemental now, plain and simple.  Same soul, different physical form."

"Does this mean I can't pick on him anymore?" Sehkmet whined, resting his chin on Mieren's shoulder from behind.  She only made a face and threw Kento a meaningful look that he quickly caught.  Trying to seem nonchalant, he handed the baby in his arms to the green-haired man, tickling Cye's chin as he passed him off.  Cye squealed delightedly and snagged a fistful of Sehkmet's mottled hair and tugged mightily, distracting the Warlord as he tried to free his hair before it was pulled free.  While he was occupied, Cye proceeded to wet the man, who in turn yelped furiously and passed him off to Touma, loosing a fistful of hair in the process.

"What is it with your family?" he wailed, eyeing his dripping shirt disgustedly.  "That's three times now.  Three!"  Only a round of snickers, and one 'is it my turn now?' from Rowen, answered him.

"Now that he's safe, can I hold him?" Dais asked, trying not to look in Sehkmet's direction lest he break out laughing again.  Just as Touma held him out to the older man, he withdrew suddenly and displayed a rare show of sense by tying his hair at the base of his neck, adopting an innocent expression when Sehkmet glowered at him furiously.

Mia only shook her head in exasperation and looked skyward, trying not to sigh aloud.  "Not to say that I'm against chatting amiably, but shouldn't we be heading back to the house?"

"Probably," Mieren consented, pivoting on her toes to look around her.  She made a face and rose into the air suddenly, looking around at the surrounding area carefully and grumbling under her breath.  When she finally lowered herself to the ground, everyone was watching her expectantly.

"So where are we?" Rowen prompted.

"I have no idea," she said cheerfully.  "Who's up for teleporting back?"  Without waiting for a response, she snapped open a gateway of snowy flames and stepped back, waving the others through happily.  She followed the last person through and allowed the portal to slide shut behind her.  She was about to say something when Mia's furious cry pierced the silence.

"WHAT HAPPENED TO MY HOUSE???"

Looking at the heap of wood, stone and only God knew what else, the group exchanged worried glances and tried not to make eye contact with her.  The entire clearing where her house had sat was now a disaster area at best.

"Um… oops?" Mieren offered meekly.

"Oops?" Mia growled.  "Oops?!?  I'LL GIVE YOU 'OOPS'!!!"

Mieren only laughed nervously for a moment before running for her life, truly afraid of what would happen if Mia were to catch her.  Luckily for her, she could run much faster than the younger woman.

"Don't worry!" she shrieked over her shoulder as she ran madly.  "We'll fix it!"

"What do you mean 'we'?" Sehkmet cried out loudly, crossing his arms across his bare chest and glancing once again at the dripping shirt at his feet.  At this comment, Mia suddenly changed course and charged him, creating a squeak and a frantically retreating Warlord.  Dais only laughed uproariously and urged her to run faster.

"This would actually be rather simple to repair," Mouri murmured thoughtfully, moving forward slowly to poke around in the rubble.

"How so?" Ryo asked at his shoulder, eager to find a way to calm his wife, her temper putting his own to shame on the rare occasions when she went into wild rages.

"Some of the structures in my time were incredible, to say the least, and all were constructed with the arts.  A simple repair job shouldn't take too long," he said happily and rather loudly.  The volume of his voice snagged Mia's attention, getting her to pause long enough to listen to reason.

"How long?" she asked slowly, eyeing the sorcerer askance.

"If Kenji and Ritsuko help, a week at the most."

Nodding slowly, Ryo turned to Mia, sighing in relief when he saw that she had calmed noticeably.  Ritsuko only made a face in their general direction and proceeded to belittle the elfin sorcerer.

"We're not building one of the grand halls, elf.  It's a house, for crying out loud.  We should be able to fix it today if you all stop screwing around."

"Well?" Mia asked impatiently, smiling somewhat nastily in Mouri's general direction.  He swallowed nervously and nodded, never having been one for standing up to angry women for any reason.  They were beyond devious when they were upset and Mia seemed to be torqued beyond all reason.  It took him a matter of seconds to gather the other sorcerer and the ancient guardian.  He considered asking the four elves, but none of them save the dark elf seemed to have any idea what they were doing, and that one was too busy talking to his friends and teasing the Warlords to notice anything else.

After speaking with Ryo and Mia for a length of time and working with his memory, he managed to come up with a rather detailed mental image of what he was trying to rebuild.  An image of fire was slowly changed and refined by Ryo's careful corrections and Mia's fiery temper until they created an identical image of what he was trying to regenerate.

Seeing that they were occupied, Kento moved aside the rubble while his friends planned, clearing the area in which they needed to work.  Ritsuko grinned and threw a wink in his direction, causing Kento to blush and look away, much to the amusement of Akira and several of the Warlords.

The model of fire just mere inches in front of him, Mouri began pulling cords of power into place where the supports were to fall, holding them firmly in place while Ritsuko placed delicate ropes and threads around them to hold the weaves in place.  Kenji was ignoring them both completely, working on his own to replace the foundation and bases of the walls.  Mouri only chuckled softly at Mia's rapt expression as he worked, knowing that she couldn't see what he was doing in the slightest.  To all observers, it appeared as though a life-size projection of the house was being brought into existence with tricks of the light.  Ritsuko's gentle tweaking of the weave solidified the structure suddenly, bringing the strangely luminescent architectural work into reality.

"We may have to work on the furniture for awhile," Mouri admitted sheepishly.

Mia only shrugged and started forward, too enthralled about the prospect of a fully repaired house to care much at the moment that all of her possessions were still in the rubble heap.

A soft clearing of a throat caught everyone's attention, the brunette light elf speaking up for the first time.

"When are we going back?" he asked softly, almost seeming afraid to speak up.  Neris sniffed loudly and made a face at him.

"Whenever we want, Tylin," he smirked.  "Siellon can open a gate whenever you find the courage to ask."

Siellon laughed softly and waved to two elfin survivors happily.  "Come now, surely you and Puryth can find a set of balls between the two of you," he teased, prodding the brunette in the shoulder and looking over to the blond with an amused expression on his face.  "Well?"

"Well, can we go back now?  I've had enough fighting to last for the next thousand years," Puryth said firmly, tying his longish blond hair at the base of his neck.

"Thousand years?" Sage asked softly, prodding Mouri a little more roughly than was necessary.  The elfin sorcerer only shrugged.

"He's young.  He might still live that long."

"No wonder Cye wasn't aging," Ryo drawled, making a face at the infant Mana now held.

Siellon grinned widely at the shock on their faces as he summoned a portal of amethyst flames, all but pushing the two elves through before sauntering after them.  Neris hung back, looking curiously at the ancient sorcerers and guardian.

"What about you, sorcerer?"

Mouri blinked and looked around to the others with a wistful expression on his face, his gaze ultimately settling on the infant in Mana's arms.

"You can stay with us if you want," Ryo said carefully, smiling ruefully when Mouri nodded fervently with a grin that threatened to split his face.

"I'll move out when I find a job, or at least pay rent," he offered, throwing a grandfatherly look in Cye's direction.  Touma only rolled his eyes.

"And you?" Neris asked, throwing a meaningful look in Ritsuko's direction and trying not to grin too widely.  He had seen the looks she had been throwing at one of the guys in the group and seriously doubted she was coming back with him.

"I think I'll stay for awhile," she answered carefully, blushing slightly when he snickered evilly.

"What about you, you blue-haired freak?" he asked the last ancient sorcerer.  Kenji made a face and looked around at the group, fingering his hair and looking at Neris's light blue locks in askance.

"I think I'm coming with you," he murmured, looking at the rolling flames of the gateway carefully.  "But not through that thing.  No offense, but your friend is an idiot."  He grinned wider at the poorly muffled laughter his statement brought from the blue-haired light elf.  Craning his head sharply, he glanced over to the Ronins and Warlords with a bemused expression.  "But best be on your guard.  No telling when I might drop by for a visit," he called out cheerily as he opened a portal of his own, navy blue flames gently boiling around the milky surface of the gateway.

Neris shook his head and started for the violet opening in space that awaited his passage, pausing to look at the Ronins one last time, Sage and Kayura in particular.

"Serves me right for following you two in the first place," he smirked, throwing them a playfully inappropriate gesture.  "Remind me not to get involved in your battles anymore, by the way.  You idiots are dangerous," he hooted, jumping through the flames before they had a chance to respond.

The portal began to close before stopping its dissolution abruptly.  Siellon suddenly poked his head through the opening and made a sour face at Ryo, grumbling darkly under his breath.  Before anyone could ask him what he was doing, he deposited an armload of cubs on their side of the portal and stuck his tongue out at Ryo.

"These little monsters tore up my house and terrorized the guy I had feeding them.  They attacked us the second we came in.  Hell, I just got my fingers back from the black one.  That one's mean!" he cried out, disappearing again before anyone had time to do more than laugh uproariously.

Nasuti was the first person to dart forward to the cubs, her innate speed allowing her to beat even Chimera and White Blaze to them.  Cye watched her tumble with the three cubs for a mere moment before squealing demandingly, reaching out towards the little balls of fuzz and whimpering.  Mana set him down beside Nasuti before he wriggled out of her grasp, watching carefully as he immediately tackled the panther cub and pinned it to the ground.

"And Siellon said that the cubs were mean," Ryo commented innocently, adopting an innocent expression when Mana made a face at him.

"Oh Ryo, my favorite uncle in the world," Touma drawled sarcastically, smiling insanely and rolling his eyes for emphasis.

"Oh no," Ryo said softly, numbly remembering what Rowen had said about the wise-ass that posed as his son.  "What now?"

"What would you say to letting my precious little Cye have that kitten he seems so infatuated with?"

"Well, I don't know.  You might poison it with your cooking," Ryo said slowly, straining to keep a strait face.  Mia spoiled his fun by goosing him hard enough to make him jump several feet off of the ground, turning to Mana and Touma with a gentle smile on her face.

"He can have whichever one he wants," she offered, ignoring Ryo's wounded sniffle and pouting expression.

"All right," Touma said evilly and way too happily, a strangely devious expression appearing in his eyes.  "Time to shave the pretty kitty."

"Hey, they're your fingers," Ryo smirked.  "Anyone else want one?"

"What would I want with one of Touma's fingers?" Dais asked, almost managing to keep a straight face.

"Knowing you, we don't want to know," Sehkmet supplied.

Akira only glanced at his father once before shrugging and plucking the tiger cub from the mass, grinning when it puffed up indignantly in response to his tickling the pudgy stomach.  Neither Ella nor Gau made a move towards the last cub, thinking it was Nasuti's, only accepting it when she handed them the tiny snow leopard.

"You know," Cale drawled, pushing his way into the conversation for the first time.  "People are probably wondering where we are by now."

"We should head back to our house sometime," Anubis murmured, a mischievous look overpowering his normally serious expression.  "Dais needs to bleach his hair.  He looks like an idiot."  Dais jerked in shock, unused to torment coming from that particular source.

"This differs from normal how?" Sehkmet asked innocently, using his best friend's momentary shock to get in his own jibe.  Dais made a face and proceeded to tackle the green-haired man.

"We should be going before these two idiots kill each other," Cale laughed, prodding the nearest person in the ribs with his toe and grinning happily at the answering grunt.  He didn't wait for them to regain their feet before snapping open a gateway of boiling navy blue flames and vanishing.  Anubis pushed the dueling pair through before turning to the Ronins once more.

"Just call us if you need anything.  I'll beat all three of those morons into shape if they so much as squeak in protest," he offered, ducking his head and vanishing into the swirling flames.

Ryo nodded, having been expecting such an answer from the usually serious man.  He only glanced at the sky for a mere moment before looking to those that still milled around aimlessly.

"You all probably have things that need to be done," he said slowly, smiling almost to himself when nods and soft affirmatives circled the group.  They were all tired of being away from home and standing around pointlessly, and he couldn't really blame them.

"Just tell us the next time you plan on having a reunion," Touma smirked.  "I look forward to seeing all of you guys under normal circumstances.  Well, as normal as they can be, all things considered," he admitted.  He reclaimed Cye from Mia, wondering how his son had circulated to her so quickly, and left with Mana, waving happily and blowing kisses as he vanished.  The panther cub leapt through the gateway after them, knowing full well they were his new family.  That, however, did not keep him from swiping at Touma's ankles.

Sage was the first of the remaining to muster the courage to murmur a goodbye and open a portal of emerald flames, ushering Kayura and his children through, Ella holding a snow leopard cub fiercely to her chest.  Rowen and Mieren followed their retreat, the former playing with his wife's snowy hair curiously as they disappeared.

Kento tried four times to open a portal of his own without success, finally surrendering to incompetence and allowing Akira to do it.  Ritsuko shocked everyone by following them through, dropping her cloak around Kento's shoulders as they passed through the milky surface of the gateway.  Kento instantly crimsoned and made a point of not looking at her, studying the tiger cub in his arms instead.  The last sound to echo back to the listeners was that of Akira's howling laughter and lewd jokes.

Shaking his head wearily and trying unsuccessfully not to groan, Ryo turned to Mouri with a long-suffering look on his face.

"Shall we begin with the furniture before Mia kills us?"

"Why not?" he murmured, looking longingly at the area where Touma had summoned a gateway and struggling not to sigh.  His gaze softened when he spotted Nasuti playing happily with the two great cats, remembering the days long past when his own children had been that age.  The nostalgic look was not lost on Mia, though Ryo remained oblivious, being the typical unobservant male.

"Maybe you could teach Nasuti some of the arts while you stay," she said softly, smiling knowingly to herself when Mouri nodded eagerly.  The ancient elf loved children and would enjoy spending time with the girl.

Without further comment, the four entered the newly restored house to resume with their work, the two great cats following silently.

To Be Continued…

A cat, by any other name, is still a sneaky little furball that barfs on the furniture.


	12. Part 12

Dragon Wars

Part 12

By Mieren

"CALE!!!"  The deafening shriek shook the rafters of the house, creating several winces but many more snickers.  "Stay out of the kitchen!  And take Kenji with you!"

Cale instantly bolted into the living room, unsuccessfully trying to hide his crimson face from the others.  He glared balefully at the kitchen, muttering something about his ancestor that the others would have given anything to hear.

"Now really, he ought to know better by now," Anubis murmured, bringing on another round of giggling.  "People with blue hair are just hopeless when it comes to cooking."

"I resent that," Rowen growled, launching a pillow in his direction with surprising accuracy considering that he was juggling an infant in one arm and a toddler in the other.

"As do I," Touma muttered, still cleaning up the shrapnel from the experiment that his older son had had with a vase and a cherry bomb.  He raised his voice suddenly to be heard over the various conversations being held around the room.  "Hey Mana.  Have you fed Shin yet?"

"No.  Have Rowen do it," came the muffled response from the next room.

"I don't know if you've noticed, but I'm not equipped for such work," Rowen called out sarcastically.

"There's formula in the bag.  Take care of it," she yelled back.

"You want me to fix his formula?" he asked carefully, trying to hide his smile.

There was a thoughtful pause before an answer came.  "I'll fix the formula.  You just feed him."

Rowen grimaced, his hopes of getting out of babysitting having just been shot down brutally.  He glanced at the onyx-haired infant in his arms, locking his sapphire eyes with the crystalline jade peering back at him innocently.  If Mieren had still had black hair, the child would be almost a mirror image of her.  His sharp cheekbones and the telltale signs of height even at six months of age amused Rowen to no end.  The likeness was uncanny.

A madly laughing projectile darted between his legs, costing him his balance and nearly causing him to kiss the floor.  He only caught the flash of platinum blond hair and a twinkle of pale blue eyes as the girl glanced over her shoulder as she ran.  Rowen made a sour face and looked around irately.

"Hey Sage!  Katari's loose!"

He was nearly trampled when Sage came tearing by, lunging wildly for the hell-raiser that masqueraded as his three-year-old daughter.

"I know!  I've been trying to catch her for an hour!" he cried out as he disappeared around the corner, launching himself out of an open window in hopes of catching the impossibly swift and agile child.

"You could help him, Rowen," Kayura admonished from the kitchen.

"Whatever for?" he asked merrily.  "Watching is more fun."

"Hide me, Uncle Rowen," came a meek voice near his feet.

A dead weight suddenly wrapped itself around his left leg, making Rowen look down in shock.  A two-year-old girl with stunning steel colored hair and navy blue eyes blinked up at him and smiled shyly.  He couldn't help but chuckle softly.  With all of the other hellions that his friends had managed to spawn, it was incredible that Kento's daughter by Ritsuko could be so innocent and sweet.

"Hide me," Ryoko repeated.  "Or Uncle Sehkmet is going to eat me."

"Damn it, Kento," Sehkmet wailed indignantly.  "Why did you tell her that?"

"It's true, isn't it?" Kento grunted, struggling to keep Akira pinned in a headlock while Ella just sat back and laughed herself sick.

Sehkmet was about to spit out a witty response when Ryo moved into the room, looking around blankly.

"Any of you guys seen Nasuti?" he asked slowly, not sure what to make of the chaos reigning in the living room.

"Last I saw, she was with Gau," Dais called out loudly to be heard over the din, a suggestive note entering his voice.  Ryo made a face.

"How do you feel about being a grandfather, Ryo?" Sehkmet chortled.

"That's not funny!" Ryo wailed.  "She's only eleven."

"And she's with a carbon copy of Sage," Dais smirked, causing Ryo to pale.

"Nasuti!" he cried out, disappearing from the room amid poorly muffled laughter.

Unfortunately, Rowen began laughing so hard at the expression on Ryo's face that his grip on the older of his two grandchildren lessened just enough for him to squirm free.  Rowen cried out frantically and made a mad lunge for the auburn-haired three-year-old, missing pathetically and kissing the floor.  Even in such an indignant and poorly balanced position, he was curled protectively around the younger of his two grandsons.

"Touma!" he all but shrieked.  "Heads up!  Cye's loose!"

Touma blanched and made a mad lunge at his son as he passed, missing miserably and crashing into Kento and Akira instead.  Akira leapt to his feet instantly and made a mad dash for the door, snagging Ella's wrist on the way by.  Kento had barely regained his feet before the two teens vanished.

"Damn it, Touma!" he wailed indignantly.  "I was trying to keep them separated.  Now I'm in the same mess as Ryo."

"Tough," the Rowen grumped when Touma didn't pause in his mad scramble to respond.  "We have bigger problems.  Cye and Katari are both loose."

Kento was about to reply when a half-grown panther carrying two giggling children bolted past him, Touma and Sage in hot pursuit.

"Faster!" Cye cried out happily, prodding his pet panther to greater speeds.

"Shadow, you treacherous rat!" Touma screamed.  "You get your furry ass back here now!  Do you have any idea what those two will do if left alone?"

Sage was about to leap forward to snag the children off of the panther when he was abruptly flattened to the floor by a half-grown snow leopard carrying Nasuti and Gau.  He was in the process of pushing himself to his feet when White Blaze squished him to the floor for the second time in so many seconds, Ryo urging the tiger to move faster as they struggled to close in on the snow leopard.  Amid a barrage of cursing, Sage tried once more to regain his feet, kissing the floor for a third time when Shadow doubled back, plowing into him from behind.  He didn't even bother to defend himself when Touma planted a heel in his back on the way by, fully consumed in catching the panther and its occupants.

"Anyone else want to step on me?" he growled, drumming his fingers on the floor irately.

"Well, since you're offering," Kento murmured, happily plopping down atop the blond and pinning him to the wooden floor effortlessly.

"Kento?"

"Yes, Sage?"

"Get the hell offa me!"

"Whatever for?" Kento asked innocently.

"Shouldn't you be looking for your son?" Sage snarled.

"Why?  He's just with Ella, after all," came the wry, and surprisingly calm, answer.

"Because I have no intention of being your in-law!"

Kento grimaced and hopped off of his friend, only pausing to pull him to his feet before charging out the front door with Sage hot on his heels.  The brutal reminder of what the two teenagers would be up to was more than enough incentive to get him up and moving.

Rowen was looking around for someone to pass Shin off on when a bottle of formula was abruptly stuffed into his hand by a stern looking Mana.  He sighed and claimed a seat on the couch, knowing he wasn't going anywhere for awhile.  He had only been there for a moment before a two-year-old Ryoko crawled into his lap, studying Shin with a rapt expression.

"What's wrong?" Rowen asked softly.  "Uncle Sehkmet still trying to eat you?"

"No.  I just wanted to hold Shin," she said meekly, turning her impossibly dark blue eyes on him.  He chuckled at the pleading expression on her face and consented, helping her to collect the six-month-old boy in her arms carefully.  She held him for a few minutes before looking around the room thoughtfully.

"You want down already?"

Ryoko shook her head.  "I was just wondering if Uncle Sehkmet wanted to hold him."  Rowen blinked at the unexpected statement and looked over to the green-haired Warlord.

"What makes you say that?"

"Daddy says that Uncle Sehkmet loves holding babies.  Especially ones related to you," she said slowly, beaming proudly when she managed to get out the words correctly.

Rowen had to struggle for almost a full minute to keep from howling with laughter, wondering what had possessed Kento to tell his daughter that.  Rather than let a good suggestion go to waste, he gently reclaimed the black-haired infant from Ryoko and held him out to Sehkmet amiably.  Sehkmet promptly blanched and retreated, showing a bout of common sense for the first time in Rowen's memory.

Sehkmet was saved from disaster when Akira poked his head in through the open window, looking around the group suspiciously.

"Are Dad and Uncle Sage both gone?" he asked softly, glancing around warily with wide silvery eyes.

"For the moment," Dais supplied, smiling lecherously.

"Chasing the demon spawned creatures, I assume," Akira murmured, hopping through the window lightly and turning to help Ella in gently.  Sehkmet nearly choked laughing when she pushed a lock of mottled gold and silver hair out of his eyes gently.

"My room was upstairs, second on the right," Rowen supplied, struggling to keep the amusement out of his eyes and voice.  "No one will look for you there, but lock the door anyway, just to be safe."

Akira threw him a grateful smile and disappeared up the stairs, Ella following right behind him.  They were barely out of sight before Rowen and the four Warlords in the room burst into laughter.

"Sage and Kento are going to kill you," Anubis gasped out, wiping the moisture from his eyes and hiccupping softly.

"Assuming that Kayura and Ritsuko don't get to you first," Cale smirked.

"And just remember what will happen to you four if I'm caught," Rowen growled softly, ruining his attempted sternness by snickering softly.  "You must admit, though, they make a cute couple."

"Agreed, but that's not going to save your hide," Mieren breathed in his ear from behind, nearly giving him heart problems.  Both Sehkmet and Dais burst into laughter.  Rowen scowled darkly at the Warlords and made a mental note to kill them later for not warning him that his wife was in the room.

"Uh… um… er," Rowen stammered, certain he was a dead man.

"That's if they find out, anyway," she chuckled, slapping him on the back and turning back to the kitchen.  "I'm not going to say anything, but you might want to place prices on the Warlords' heads, just to make sure."

Rowen grinned maliciously towards the other four men in the room, a vicious look entering his sapphire eyes.  "You just remember that I've lived with Mieren for the better part of my life.  Her vengefulness is more than slightly contagious."

The four exchanged slightly wary expressions and nodded slowly, each of them coming quickly to the conclusion that they wouldn't say anything no matter how they were tortured.  There was nothing in this, or any other, dimension that the parents of those teens could do to them that Mieren and Rowen couldn't top.

*     *     *

Mieren sauntered back into the kitchen unhurriedly, taking the time she desperately needed to straighten her features.  She had known that Rowen wouldn't have objected to the teens' pairing, but she had never imagined that he would initiate it.  Both Mia and Kayura instantly picked up the amusement from her face despite her best efforts, though neither Ritsuko nor Mouri had known her long enough to read her so easily.  Despite knowing she was almost bursting with laughter, no one had a clue as to why.  Mouri studied the three giggling women and managed to piece together that something was going on, but little beyond that.

Kenji locked eyes with Mieren for a mere instant before bursting into laughter, purpling and staggering his way out of the kitchen.  He had been one of the key factors in instilling a sense of humor into the girl and could read her quite easily.  It wasn't difficult for him to figure out what she was still smirking about.  He wondered idly who all was going to die when the teens' parents found out.

Not paying attention to little details such as where he was going, Kenji wandered into the back yard, tripping over Siellon and landing on Tylin.  The dark elf only made a face at him before pulling him off of his brunette light cousin, grinning at Neris happily in an inquisitive fashion.  His friend shrugged and flipped a loose lock of pale blue hair out of his eyes before turning to the ancient sorcerer.

"What gives?" Neris asked succinctly.

"Have you seen what's going on inside?" Kenji retorted evasively, wiping his streaming eyes on his sleeve.

"We're afraid to go in there," Puryth answered honestly.

"Especially since you were in the kitchen," Siellon smirked, openly agreeing with the blond.  He remembered full well what the blue-haired sorcerer would concoct if allowed near any type of cooking utensils and ingredients.  Not even the bottomless pits, which he knew as Kento and Sehkmet, would go near the compost that Kenji had the nerve to call food.  "Both your and the Hashiba lines were always dangerous."

"Then explain Cye," he growled playfully.  "I've heard that he could cook."

"The wonders that a little elfin blood can accomplish," Mouri sighed, wandering into the small gathering and joining their mock argument.  Everyone knew full well that those two family lines had been banned from kitchens since ancient times.

"What do you want, you pointy eared freak?" Kenji challenged, smiling insanely.

Mouri only arched one eyebrow at the larger man before shrugging and heading back to the kitchen.  "Only to say that dinner's ready," he called over his shoulder as he walked, pausing to grin maliciously at the sorcerer.  "And that I'd watch my comments if I were you.  I'm sure you've heard what those two did to your descendant and his friends," he smirked, indicating Neris and Siellon with an absent wave of his hand.  He disappeared into the house chuckling softly to himself.

Kenji only glanced at the elves warily before breaking into a mad sprint towards the open door, certain that the four couldn't overpower him but not wanting to push his luck.  No matter how hard he fought back, he was sure that he'd be sore if it came to an all out battle of strength.  The dark elf was surprisingly powerful.

With as much attention as he way paying to the elves behind him, the sharp command thrown at him didn't register until it was too late.

"Stop them, Kenji!"

The blue-haired sorcerer looked up just in time to see a panther barreling at him in a dead run, two squealing passengers urging him to run faster.  Only his quick reflexes allowed him to leap out of the way in time, though on such short notice he couldn't be overly picky as to direction.  His dodging maneuver landed him squarely in Siellon's lap, after flattening the dark elf to the ground anyway, a place that he quickly decided he didn't want to be.  He had seen what had happened to Cale, after all, and he wasn't eager to tempt the dark elf with a challenge.  Leaping to his feet in a panic, he began a mad sprint towards the house, calling an apology over his shoulder as he ran.  He barely reached the door before careening into Touma, the two ending up in a tangle of arms and legs, expletives flying through the air as each tried his best to deck the other in getting up.

"Neris!" Touma cried out frantically.  "Catch them!"

The light elf only glanced at the scrambling men before shrugging and beginning a smooth lope in the direction of the panther, his elfin agility allowing him to close ground every time the great cat made the mistake of changing directions.  He was completely caught off guard, however, when the little boy clinging to the thick neck turned the great cat directly towards him.

"Charge!" he squealed happily, causing Neris to blanch and backpedal frantically.  He had no desire to be run over by several hundred pounds of cat and didn't intend to be caught anytime soon.

Rather than let himself be trampled, he decided to take out the person he saw as responsible for the pursuit, veering unerringly towards Touma as he still struggled to his feet, taking one last swat at Kenji as he did so.  He wasn't overly surprised when he bounced backwards before taking more than a few steps, the air just before him shimming with an unnatural light.  He glanced at the little girl clinging to Cye and grimaced, cursing rabidly at himself for the stupidity of taking on a Child of Date and thus a master of light.

Neris paid little attention to the wall of light past turning to avoid it and choose a new direction of retreat, calling out commands in every language he could think of for his elfin friends to save him before he became a permanent indentation in the ground.  Naturally, they ignored him completely.

A delighted squeal warned him just in time that he was about to slam into some sort of barrier that the rotten little monster had constructed.  He veered sharply to his left and continued with his mad sprint, sensing more than hearing that Shadow and his passengers were closing in.  Expecting another wall to be placed in front of him, he began squinting wildly, watching for the minimal change in the appearance of the air in front of him for the barrier he knew was coming.

_There_, he thought silently, seeing the faint shimmering just a few seconds in front of him.  Rather than changing directions yet again, he changed tactics instead, pushing himself into a brutal sprint.  Pumping his arms and legs wildly, he readied himself, praying that the wall didn't extend too high into the air.  At the last moment, he leapt into the air, planting his feet into the solidified light and pushing himself further upwards for three steps before his forward momentum ran out.  Gasping, he reached out frantically with his hands, swallowing nervously when his fingers barely snagged the top of the girl's weave.  Without hesitating, he yanked himself over the smooth edge and allowed himself to fall the thirty feet to the ground on the other side.

Letting out a victorious war cry, he spun to see the panther swerve at the last moment to avoid the wall, his cargo not having the talent to unravel her little trick.  Undaunted, Shadow turned towards another target.  Tylin.  The brunette yelped and tried to hide behind Puryth, who shoved him directly into the panther's path and ran for cover, which constituted in staying well behind Siellon, who in turn was chasing Kenji.  The sorcerer, however, was chasing Touma, who was still frantically trying to catch his terror of a son.  Tylin scowled darkly at his so-called friend and darted after him, intent on pounding his head into the ground when he caught him.  Neris only watched the group race around in a circle for a mere moment before shaking his head wearily and turning towards the house, eager to escape the insanity.  He was about to walk inside when Mouri blocked his path and grinned widely.

"Don't leave just yet," he murmured.  "Watch."

Curious as to what the ancient elfin sorcerer was talking about, Neris turned back to watch the scene of chaos, seeing quickly what had Mouri so amused.  Each pursuer, in trying to catch his prey, was constantly cutting corners to close ground.  The circle they were running was becoming consistently smaller, tighter.  Neris grinned suddenly when he realized that with as sharp as they were now turning, it would only take one person to slip to cause a massive pileup.

"I'm betting that Kenji is the first one to fall," Neris smirked, nudging Mouri in the ribs for the older elf's opinion.  Mouri watched them thoughtfully for a moment before shaking his head.

"Touma's going to be the first to kiss the dirt," he said slowly, his smile growing ever wider.  Neris blinked at him numbly, drawing a complete blank at that.  Touma's balance was rivaling the elves in the constant hard turn now.  In contrast, Kenji was barely staying on his feet and looked to be getting rather dizzy.

"What makes you say that?"

"Just watch," Mouri said smugly.

Sure enough, within the next few seconds, Touma crashed into the ground, rolling backwards frantically as he did so and tripping Kenji, Siellon, and Puryth in rapid succession.  Tylin skidded to a halt and backpedaled frantically to avoid the fray, crashing into Shadow and bringing him to a sudden halt.  Before the great cat had time to do more than blink in shock, Touma snatched the squealing and giggling cargo off of his back, grinning in relief at the squirming bundle under each arm as he headed back towards the house.

"He did that on purpose!" Neris wailed.  "That's not fair!  Kenji was about to belly surf across the grass and create a four moron pileup," he muttered, sure that Shadow and Touma could have avoided the tangle.

"He just has two brain cells in his head to rub together," Mouri chortled, peeking into the kitchen to make sure it was still safe.  "He had to catch those little monsters, didn't he?"

"Watch what you say about my son, elf," Touma snarled as he walked past, the merry twinkle in his silver eyes belying his harsh expression.

Mouri only raised his hands defensively as he followed the blue-haired man into the kitchen, noting wryly that Shadow had disappeared.  Knowing the panther, he was just looking for another opportunity to raise hell.  He was willing to bet that the great cat would sneak into the house sometime soon to rescue Cye and join him on the rampage.  The feline was completely loyal to the brunette three-year-old, which didn't speak well for anyone else's well being.

*     *     *

"That's mine!"

"The hell it is!  I got to it first!"

"Give that back or else!"

"Or else what?"

"You're gonna find out if you don't give me that!"

"Do you want me to make some more?" asked a soft voice.

"NO!" came the simultaneous and fervent response from a dozen throats.

Ritsuko slowly shook her head, utterly amazed that two grown men could squabble so vehemently over the last serving of a simple casserole.  She had known that Kento loved his food, but she never would have imagined that he would have bickered with Sehkmet like that for something so petty.  Cale's offer to cook for them had frightened even her, though.  She knew how horridly Kenji cooked and had no desire to see what kind of mess his descendant could concoct.  Trying to find something to distract herself from their stupidity, she turned to Mieren.

"So how has everything been going?" she asked sweetly, noticing wryly that Mieren was watching the battle over the food with a slightly amused and devious expression.  Ritsuko was suddenly wary of what the woman was planning.

"Just fine.  Nothing really exciting has come up, thank the light.  I rather enjoy the peaceful life," she murmured, suddenly reaching back to tie her snowy hair at the base of her equally pale neck.  Rowen's soft groan informed everyone in hearing range that his wife was indeed planning something, creating a round of stiffening and several wary expressions.  Kenji merely ducked his head and began trembling slightly as he struggled to keep from laughing aloud.  Ritsuko made a mental note to kill him later if Mieren did something to drive her batty that the ancient sorcerer didn't see fit to warn her about.

Mieren casually stood up and moved around the table, completely unobserved by the two bickering men.  Shaking her head slowly at their obliviousness, she simply reached into the fray and claimed the plate of food for herself, calmly reclaiming her seat while she waited for them to realize that they had been deprived of the source of their miniature war.  As one, they froze and slowly turned to face her, the slightly irked expressions materializing on their faces causing Mieren to grin around a mouthful of the final serving of Mana's casserole.  She only batted her jade eyes innocently and returned to her food, blatantly ignoring their scowls and the soft snickering that rose from the others clustered around the table.

Rather than beginning the customary mad pursuit around the house trying to reclaim his food, Kento decided to try a game of intelligence instead.

"I spit in that," he muttered.  Mieren froze, her cheek twitching exactly once.  She sniffed loudly and shrugged, continuing with her meal.  Kento's jaw dropped.  Undaunted, he turned to his usual methods, leaping out of his seat and charging.  Naturally, Mieren effortlessly evaded their lunges, staying just beyond their reach as she proceeded to polish of the plate of food in her hands.

All of the Warlords and Ronins instantly groaned and averted their eyes, beyond tired of the limitless insanity provided by the dueling bottomless pits at meals.  The children were all laughing hysterically, with the notable exception of Akira and Ella, whose parents had yet to locate them despite a lengthy search.  The elves and ancients only watched the three race around for a few moments before grins and poorly contained snickers began to surface, making them seriously wonder exactly how Mieren had tormented her friends over the years.

After three or four laps around the house, Kento abandoned the chase and whistled loudly, grinning when Sehkmet continued the pursuit.  A heavily muscled, if half-grown, tiger jumped lightly through the front window and trotted to his side, listening intently with something resembling a grin as Kento whispered something into his ear.  Flame immediately rumbled happily and looked over to where Mieren continued to stay just inches in front of Sehkmet as she slowly ate her appropriated food.  He stretched slightly before engaging in an all out sprint towards Mieren, trampling the green-haired idiot in the process.

Unprepared for such an attack, Mieren jerked back gracelessly to avoid the great cat's lunge, losing her balance for the first time ever in a simple dodging maneuver and landing heavily on her backside.  Shocked at her clumsiness, it took her several seconds to realize that Flame was standing on her fully and slurping up the last of the food on the plate in her hands, blatantly ignoring Kento's loud protests.

"Damn it, Flame!" he wailed, pushing the tiger aside to see if anything was left and sobbing loudly upon seeing that there wasn't.  "That was mine!"

"The hell it was," Sehkmet mumbled groggily.  "I got to it first."

"Would you two stop the stupidity already?" Touma asked, struggling not to laugh.  Despite the others' groaning, he thought the battle rather amusing since he had had only limited opportunities to witness the chaos.  "So what if Mana's casserole is gone?  I brought something for you guys too."

A mortified silence descended on the group.  It was well known that Rowen's cooking abilities, or lack there of, were passed on to his only son.  Kento was the first to clear his throat tentatively and say what everyone was thinking.

"That's all right, Touma.  There's enough food to go around," he said, sounding very much unlike himself.  "You shouldn't have bothered yourself with doing that."

Touma made a face.  "I didn't cook it," he growled.  "I ordered it at a restaurant."

"Why didn't you say so?" Sehkmet said cheerily, quickly reclaiming his seat and snagging his silverware.

Chuckling to himself, Touma disappeared into the kitchen.  There was a slight pause and a good deal of rustling around in the fridge and some beeping indicating use of the microwave.  Mana instantly leapt to her feet and bolted into the next room, putting everyone immediately at ease.  They returned to the dining room carrying several platters between them and placing them in the center of the table.  Kento and Sehkmet each grabbed a plate for themselves, leaving the others to battle for the remaining four.  Ryo looked strangely at one of the small bits of breaded meat for a moment before shrugging and popping it into his mouth unconcernedly.

"This is pretty good," he murmured appreciatively, filling a good portion of his plate with the small bits.  Conversation temporarily ceased while everyone practically snorted the addition to the meal.

"What is this anyway?" Kayura asked suddenly, trying to decide if she should have another helping.  "It's really tender."

Touma twitched slightly, his lips curling upwards into something that might have been a tightly controlled smile.  He took a deep breath to refrain from bursting into laughter before answering.

"Rocky Mountain oysters," he said calmly, his grin now threatening to split his face in half.

Sage instantly greened and spit the bite in his mouth into his napkin, glaring nastily at Touma, who was now chuckling softly to himself.  Ryo and Mia quickly followed his example, taking only a few moments to recognize the meaning of the words he had uttered, scowling darkly at Rowen, Touma and Mana as they noticed for the first time that none of them had been eating.  Kayura jerked back the bite she was about to put in her mouth, trusting Sage entirely when he shook his head ever so slightly.  The Warlords, sorcerers and elves only looked blankly at them, not understanding the significance.  Kento shrugged massively at their inquisitive looks and took another bite, causing Sage to pale a bit further.

"And what, pray tell, is a Rocky Mountain oyster?" Ritsuko asked slowly, not trusting Kento's opinion on food.  He would eat literally anything.

"Good snack food?" Touma offered, still struggling to keep from laughing.

"What is it?" Mouri asked firmly, looking at the little bits of meat on his plate warily as though trying to decide whether or not to kill the giggling blue-haired man.

"Calf testicles," he called out cheerily, breaking down into hysterical laughter at the responses he received.

The elves all bolted for the back door, hacking and spitting in a fury, both Neris and Tylin looking as though they were about to be physically ill.  Three of the Warlords spit out the food in their mouths and proceeded to try to scrub their tongues clean with the napkins they held.  Ritsuko, Kayura, Mia and Mouri only froze, the four of them greening slightly.  Sehkmet, Kento and Kenji only looked around or shrugged unconcernedly, continuing with their meals and helping themselves to more of the little meaty bits.  Mieren made a face.

"Why didn't you say so?" she asked happily, collecting one of the abandoned plates and munching away happily.  "Why'd you say it was dangerous, Rowen?"

Touma was so consumed in laughing himself sick that it took him a moment to realize that at least half of the people in the room were now standing, a great deal of knuckle cracking going on among them.  He sobered up quickly, knocking over his chair as he scrambled to his feet and taking a defensive step back.

"Come on," he said lightly, moving back slightly again when Cale stepped forward menacingly.  "It's edible.  It wouldn't be served if it wasn't."  When he didn't get a response, he retreated another few feet, flattening himself to a wall.  "Can't you guys take a joke?" he squeaked.

"No," Dais said happily, smiling somewhat frighteningly.

"Can't we all just get along?" he asked in a quavering voice, taking another step towards the nearest door and raising his arms defensively.

"Not a chance," Cale hissed.

Touma only chuckled once nervously before running from the room, Cale, Dais and Anubis right on his heels as he vanished into the living room and out the open window.  Rowen watched them leave with a fixed expression, shaking his head slowly as he relaxed in his chair.

"Rowen?" Sage asked softly.

"Yes?"

"Why didn't you tell us what he brought in?" Ryo grated out, scrubbing one hand through his hair roughly.  Rowen straightened slowly, beginning to see where this was going and not liking it one bit.

"What fun would that have been?" he asked cheerily, knowing he was about to be creamed but deciding to have some fun if he was going to catch their wrath anyway.

"You know you're going to die, right?" Sage snarled, Mouri falling in behind the blond threateningly.

Rowen threw them his best smile before tearing out of the room, barely making it past the four elves in the back yard without being tackled.  If they were going to beat him down, they had to catch him first.  Seeing the walls of light decorating the yard, he quickly rounded the corner of the house and began scaling the wall with the limitless skill of someone who was about to be killed.  It would have been easier to have flown up but for the fact that they had all decided only to use their abilities in the direst of emergencies, not wanting to become reliant on their powers or draw attention to themselves.  He crowed victoriously when he noticed that the others, including the elves, weren't having much luck following his escape path.  Mouri threw him an inappropriate gesture from where he stood, making another try at scaling the wall. 

"You have to come down sometime!" Ryo yelled after him, causing Rowen to peek over the edge of the roof and stick out his tongue tauntingly.

"I'm not coming down until you tell me what you're going to do," he retorted.

"Come down and I'll tell you," Sage offered.  Rowen made a face.

"Tell me and I might come down," he called happily, squirming slightly to get comfortable.  He wasn't planning on going anywhere for quite awhile.

*     *     *

Mieren watched the others leave with a highly amused expression, wondering if they would survive the others' wrath at the joke.

"You have to come down sometime!"

"I'm not coming down until you tell me what you're going to do."

"Come down and I'll tell you."

"Tell me and I might come down."

She giggled softly at the argument drifting in from outside, wondering how long it would take Rowen to figure out that Sage and Ryo were distracting him long enough for the elves to sneak up on him from behind.

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!"

_Apparently not too long_, she smirked, glancing out the window in time to see the four elves and two Ronins dragging him kicking and screaming out of sight.

"Hey, leave me out of this," came the frantic cry from the other side of the room.  "It was Touma's idea, not mine."

Mieren made a face and glanced over at Mana, who was frantically trying to hide behind Gau, Nasuti and Ryoko for protection.  Ritsuko, Mia and Kayura were glaring at her angrily, none of them looking to be in any mood to listen to pleading.  Sighing loudly, she decided she should do something.

"Knock it off," she called out, giving them the chance to back off before she actually joined the battle.  Mia only glanced at her once before retreating to the kitchen.  She obviously remembered her practical jokes and unique brand of revenge.

"But she knew," Kayura hissed.

"And now she's gonna die," Ritsuko tacked on.

Mieren sighed.  She had given them fair warning, but they had ignored her.  Trying not to grumble too loudly about being forced to get up when she felt like being overly lazy, she placed one hand on each of their shoulders and cleared her throat softly.

"That's my daughter-in-law," she said sweetly, moving into their path of destruction.  "Do you really want to do that?"

Kayura quickly shook her head and backed off, making some excuse about checking the children where they had left them trapped in the basement for the duration of the meal.  Ritsuko, however, was not so easily discouraged.

"You didn't protect your husband or son," she stated haughtily, eyes narrowing.

"They're men.  A male's only purpose is to be tortured, so why should I protect them?  That would defeat the purpose of keeping them around."

Lips twitching upwards in something akin to a smile, Ritsuko slowly shook her head and joined her descendant in checking on the two hell-spawned creatures that passed as children.  Mieren only shook her head and returned to the table with Kenji, Sehkmet and Kento, wondering why some people were so picky about what they ate.  Meat was meat.

"Thanks," Mana breathed, plopping into a seat nearby and sighing heavily.

"No problem," Mieren murmured, noticing that a couple of people were missing.

She blinked and looked around the kitchen slowly, a smile forming on her face despite her best efforts.  Ryoko was curled up in Kento's lap comfortably, oblivious to the world.  Mieren chuckled, realizing that she had been so busy protecting Mana from her attackers that she hadn't noticed Gau and Nasuti slipping away.  Chortling softly, she leapt to her feet and peeked into the living room, raising one eyebrow slowly upon seeing the pair edging silently towards the front door.

"Where do you think you're going?" she asked slowly.  Nasuti and Gau froze.

"For a walk?" the blond offered lamely, guilt blanketing his features.

Mieren nodded slowly and peered out the window innocently.  "There's a trail by the lopsided tree created by one of Cye's first attempts at a spell.  About ten minutes down it, there's a branch in the trail.  If you go left, there's a hollow tree as big around as this room about four or five trees down on your right.  Don't do anything I wouldn't," she said lightly, returning to the kitchen and trying not to burst out laughing at the shocked expressions on their faces.

"For shame," Mana reprimanded, struggling not to laugh.  "What would their parents say?"

"Probably that I'm a dead woman," she answered unconcernedly.  "But they're not going to find out I had anything to do with it, now will they?" she asked sweetly.

Kenji, Sehkmet and Mana instantly shook their heads, all of them knowing full well what would happen to them if Mieren was caught.  It wasn't a pretty thought.  Kento was about to do the same when a thought struck him.

"Just out of curiosity, where is Akira?" he asked somewhat calmly, momentarily forgetting his plate of food.  Mieren thought about taking it but decided not to, realizing she was on thin ice as it was.

"I haven't seen him since you were chasing him," she answered evasively.

Kento nodded slowly.  "And where is Ella?"

"I haven't seen her since Sage was chasing her."

"They wouldn't happen to be together, now would they?" he asked stiffly.

"Why are you asking me?"

"You just set up Sage's son with Ryo's daughter.  I'm not far off in guessing that you know where my son and Sage's daughter are, now am I?"

"Perhaps."

"Do you know where they are?" Kento asked sweetly, beginning to twitch.

"Maybe, maybe not," Mieren smirked.

"Where are they?!?" Kento exploded, his patience totally exhausted.

"Wherever they are, it's a bit late to go looking for them now."

Kento set Ryoko gently to the floor and surged to his feet, looking ready to kill.  His resolve lasted for all of three seconds before he slumped to his seat and buried his face in folded arms, mumbling something unintelligible about Sage killing him if Kayura didn't catch him first.  Mieren placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"Come now," she murmured, waving at the others to silence their snickering.  "It's not that bad being a grandparent."  Kento only sobbed louder and shook his head.  Ryoko tugged on his shirt gently and looked up at him with soft navy eyes.

"He's in Uncle Rowen's old room," she whispered, causing Mieren to stiffen.  Kento perked up instantly, a smile slowly forming on his face.

"Who told him to go there, sweetheart?" he asked softly.

"Uncle Rowen."

"Oh shit," Mieren, Sehkmet and Kenji murmured simultaneously, drawing Kento's attention and wrath instantly.

"You all knew?" he growled, a maniacal gleam entering his eyes.  Mieren and Kenji exchanged spooked looks before bolting from the room, the former out the front door and the latter out the back.  Sehkmet did the wisest thing he had ever done in his life, hiding under the table and removing himself from Kento's line of vision.  Thinking he would have more luck in taking down the ancient sorcerer, Kento charged out the back door after his soon-to-be-victim, sounding a war cry the entire way.

Mana watched them leave with a blank expression, slowly shaking her head and making a mental note to call her psychiatrist when she got home.  Sehkmet emerged after a few seconds and returned to his meal, once again oblivious to the world.  Deciding that everyone would come back when the three blue-haired idiots had been pounded into oblivion, she turned to shy two-year-old girl staring after her father.

"Would you like some dessert, sweetie?"

*     *     *

"Let me go!  I didn't do it!" Rowen howled, still bucking futilely in the fierce grip of his captors.

"We don't care," Sage smirked, his expression growing truly frightening.

Rowen whimpered and tried to pull back, only goading the elves to tighten the bonds holding him ever so slightly.  Where those four had found leather straps so quickly was utterly beyond him.  What worried him, though, was the fact that Siellon kept using some sort of hand language that he couldn't readily identify, sending the other elves into convulsive fits of laughter.  He kept pretending to check on something hidden in his sleeve too, thoroughly unnerving Rowen, who was too frightened to recognize the ruse.

"You should have told us what your son was planning," Ryo said softly, causing Rowen to edge away from him as best as he could with his wrists firmly bound to his ankles behind his back.  He was about to say more, but Kenji shot past him in a full sprint, nearly pushing him into Sage in the process.  Before either had a chance to recover, Kento tore past them in hot pursuit, screaming obscenities as he ran.  The last thing that Rowen heard was Kenji's pleading voice.

"I didn't do it!"

"What was that all about?" Ryo asked hesitantly.  "Did he go into the kitchen again?"

"Well?" Sage asked, prodding Rowen with one toe.  "You're looking unnaturally innocent.  What do you know?"

"That Kento probably found out something that Kenji was supposed to be keeping a secret," Rowen muttered, scowling after the sorcerer's retreating form.

"Which is?" Ryo prompted.

"Let me up and I'll tell you."

"Not a chance," Sage snorted.  "Tell us first.  If it's good enough, then we'll let you up."

"Yeah right," Rowen muttered.  "How about this?  It concerns your kids.  Let me up if you want the rest of it."

Sage and Ryo exchanged nervous looks and reached for the bindings holding him in check.  Mouri's upraised arm stopped them.

"It's a trick," he murmured.

"You wanna take that chance?" Rowen countered.

Ryo and Sage ignored the elves' protesting and untied the blue-haired man, waiting impatiently for him to shake the kinks out of his limbs before relaying his message.  However, he decided only to relay the part that wouldn't get him killed.  They had no need to know who set the children up.

"Ella is with Akira," Rowen blurted out, taking a step back.  "And, by now, Nasuti is probably with Gau."  At the last word he spun and bolted for the house, hoping he could find somewhere relatively sage to hide.  He glanced behind him as he ran to witness the chaos, slowing to a walk when he saw that they were no longer interested in tormenting him.

Sage instantly purpled and raced further into the trees, screaming Kento's name amid a variety of obscenities.  Ryo stayed right on his heels, having every intention of killing the blond.  Rowen shook his head and wondered where he should hide until the others had gotten the idea of pulverizing him out of their systems.

"And where do you think you're going?" Mouri smirked.

Rowen paled and made a sprint towards the house, the last thought running through his head involving anatomically impossible torture methods and the five elves chasing him.

*     *     *

"Kento!" Sage shrieked, making a mad lunge for the larger man and missing horribly.  He only narrowly avoided planting his face into a tree.  "Where is my daughter?"

"Like you have room to talk!" Ryo bellowed, taking a swing at the blond.  "Why is your son with my daughter?"

"How should I know what Akira's up to?" Kento called over his shoulder, having no intention of stopping.  It was a miracle that he was staying in front of his pursuer as it was, Sage always having been much faster than he was.

"I think all three of you are missing the point," Kenji whined at them from the lead.  "You should be looking for your children."

Thinking that he knew a way to free himself from the mad chase, Kenji doubled back suddenly even as his last words left his mouth and darted past Kento in a full sprint.  He passed Sage in the time that it took Kento to spin to follow him, grinning wildly at the thought of saving his hide.  Kento killed any such hope.

"Get him, Ryo!" Kento hollered.  "He knew and he didn't say anything!"

Kenji let out a betrayed wail and tried to duck past the furious man, succeeding only in crashing into a tree with a little help from a well timed shove from the enraged father.  He let out a groan and tried to move to his feet, shocked when three sets of hands pulled him upright.

"What's going on?" he asked shakily, looking at the three grinning men.

"You should have said something," Sage murmured, smiling ever so slightly.

"Aren't you supposed to be killing Kento?"

"If he's dead, who will I torment?" Sage chuckled sinisterly.

"Isn't Ryo supposed to be killing you?"

"Nah.  Too messy," Ryo smirked.

"But…" Kenji trailed off, utterly baffled.  With their children broken up into pairs, he had thought they would be at one another's throats.

"Akira and Ella just make too cute a couple," Kento offered, Sage nodding in agreement.

"So do Gau and Nasuti," the blond added.

"Didn't you wonder why we weren't looking for them?" Ryo asked innocently.

"It's too late for that," Sage chuckled.

"Then why are you after me?" he whined.  "I didn't do it.  Rowen did!"

"And Rowen's getting his as we speak," Kento chortled, glancing back towards the house where the five elves were still struggling with their friend.  "You're dead because you knew and you didn't say anything."

"Rowen didn't say anything either!  Go pound on him!"

The three men still holding him down glanced at each other momentarily before shrugging and turning back to face him.

"We'll get him later," Ryo said absently.

"All the Warlords knew too!" Kenji cried out desperately.  "So did Mieren!"

"Yeah, right," Kento smirked.  "Like we're going to take on Mieren."

"We have to leave the others alone because they're doing us a favor at the moment," Ryo murmured.

"They're killing Touma for that little prank he pulled with the Rocky Mountain oysters," Sage growled in disgust.

"That only leaves you," Kento sighed happily.

Kenji closed his eyes in defeat and awaited the inevitable torment to begin, wondering what the three would do to him in all their terrifying creativity.

*     *     *

Rowen grunted with every step on the staircase, wishing once again that the elves had had the decency to carry him.  Bound firmly hand and foot as he was, he couldn't effectively move for himself and seemed to be accumulating a fair number of bruises.  After a painful journey across the rocks and burrs filling the yard, they had simply begun pulling him up the stairs, step by step.  He looked up after briefly being drug down the hall, seriously wondering why they were hauling him into the bathroom.  He was beginning to grow concerned.  What in the hell were they planning?

The resonance of the closing bathroom door had barely reached his ears before they untied him.  Free, he made a mad scramble for freedom, cursing rabidly when the five managed to push him back to the floor.  Mouri only waggled one finger at him playfully before tugging his shirt off, causing Rowen's eyes to bulge.  What did they think they were doing?

After a few moments of futile struggling, he laid on the floor completely naked, craning his neck horribly to see the four elves pinning him.  Mouri, however, was playing with a huge bucket near the bathtub, confusing and terrifying him further.  He only had a moment to wonder what they were up to for the fifth time in so many seconds before he was roughly seized and tossed into the tub, sinking completely into a slimy mess.

Startled and more than slightly disgusted, he jerked upright, wiping the greasy mess off his face with equally gooey hands.  Before he had a chance to tackle the nearest elf and drag him into the mess, the five darted out of the bathroom with his clothes, laughing uproariously.  Rowen's eye twitched.

"They are beyond dead," he muttered, eyeing the massive bucket that Mouri had been playing with just before he was thrown into the clear slime.  His eyes widened suddenly upon finding the label.  "Vaseline?" he wailed.  "They threw me into a tub of Vaseline?!?"

Trying to keep from screaming, he carefully slimed his way out of the bathtub of petroleum jelly and tried to brush the worst of it off, glancing around for a towel.  He scrubbed the worst of the mess off, wondering how he was going to clean the stuff out of his hair.  He glanced at the bucket again, wondering how long those little monsters had been planning to do this.

He was about to creep out of the bathroom clad only in a towel when he heard a pleading wail from outside.  He peeked out of the tiny window in the bathroom and bit his lip to keep from laughing.

"Poor Kenji," he murmured, giggling softly as he slipped and slid down the hall to Ryo's room to raid his clothes.  As soon as he was dressed, the elves were going to pay.

*     *     *

"You guys are old and slow.  That's all there is to it," Touma panted over his shoulder as he ran, giggling happily when he saw how badly the Warlords were falling behind.  With his bloodlines, he wouldn't get tired for quite some time.  Granted, he wasn't allowed to use his abilities in public for anything less than a dire emergency, but Mieren had taught him the art of grappling.  Even if they caught him, he would be able to protect himself.

"Yeah, but we're cantankerous old farts and you're going to pay when we catch you," Cale spat out, lunging at him and kissing the dirt for at least the tenth time.

"Do I look like an old fart?" Anubis snapped, kicking his friend as he passed.

"So it's better to draw attention to the fact that you're indefinitely stuck in puberty?" Dais smirked, nearly tripping over Cale as he sprinted by.

"Go bleach your roots," the redhead snarled.

"Pop a pimple," Dais countered.

"Get a date."

"Grow some pubes."

"Wash your hand."

"And you wonder why you're all still bachelors at five hundred," Touma taunted, opting to run backwards for a little while just to tweak the Warlords a bit further.  They were all nearing exhaustion, and he was barely starting to breathe heavily.

"We have all eternity to get tied up in a relationship," Dais growled.  "I see no reason to get married yet.  I'm still enjoying the freedom of single life."

"Excuses, excuses," Touma called out happily.  "Just admit that no girl will have anything to do with you and we can all be happy."

"It's not my fault that women are weird," he wailed, drawing a smirk from Anubis and a snicker from both Cale and Touma.

"Do you guys give up yet?" Touma laughed.

"Never," Anubis snarled, drawing a sigh from the blue-haired man.

"You know you'll never catch me and you can't do anything even if you do.  You're all too weak to pose a challenge."

Anubis was about to growl out something when a thought struck him, an almost evil look appearing on his face.  He nodded and slowed to a stop, waving for Cale and Dais to give up their pursuits as well.  He whispered only a few words to them as they paused, creating identical smirks on their faces and a worried look on Touma's.

"We give up," he said calmly, starting back for the house leisurely with his friends trailing immediately behind him.

After a moment of silent debate, Touma followed, still wondering what they were up to.  Anubis broke off just before entering the house, looking around the yard while the others vanished into the house.  Sniffing loudly, Touma decided to follow the two that had disappeared into the house, thinking that the two of them could cause more problems than the solitary Warlord.  Cale and Dais only reclaimed their seats at the table and began chatting amiably, ignoring him completely.  Dais only paused to lean over to Mana and tickle Shin gently, causing the infant to squeal delightedly.

Anubis entered the house a moment later, Shadow trailing at his heels and purring loudly in a reverberating rumble.  The three Warlords that had been chasing Touma exchanged meaningful looks and nodded ever so slightly, causing the blue-haired man to tense and take a defensive step back.  Anubis smiled, making every hair on Touma's neck stand on end.  Without saying a word, he tackled the younger man and pinned him securely to the floor, using all of his strength and Shadow's help to hold him down.  As preoccupied as he was in regaining his feet, it took Touma a moment to realize that both Dais and Cale had vanished.

Their absence was solved after only a few seconds of struggling as they sauntered back into the room, each of them carrying a squirming toddler.  Without saying a word, Cale set Cye on Shadows back, moving aside so Dais could place Katari behind him on the massive panther.  Anubis made a deep rumbling sound in his throat, earning a soft snort from Shadow before the panther disappeared out the back door, blatantly ignoring Touma's protesting wail.

"Get back here, you furry bastard!  Do you realize what you're doing?" he shrieked, bucking furiously.  "Get the hell off of me!"

"We win," Anubis smirked, ducking Touma's wild swing as he dashed after his oldest son and the boy's partner in crime.  The three continued to laugh hysterically as Touma chased the two around the yard to no avail.  There was no hope of him catching the swift panther anytime soon.  Mana broke up their celebration by clearing her throat softly.

"You better help him catch those two," she murmured, glancing after her husband with a patient look.

"Whatever for?" Cale smirked.  "This is fun."

"Fine.  You just keep thinking that," she smirked, chuckling softly as she prodded Kayura gently, the older woman snickering softly.  After exchanging worried looks with his friends, Dais hesitantly opened his mouth to ask them what was so amusing, only to be cut off by Mana's sudden question.

"How did you get Shadow to follow you?  He doesn't listen to a word we say."

"Master of life's loyalties," Anubis said proudly, earning several blank looks and one irritated grumble.

"You're Shinji's descendant, there's no doubt about that," Ritsuko grumbled, muttering something under her breath about 'pompous arrogant braggarts' that had Mia chuckling softly.

"Question," Dais piped up, waiting patiently for the others to acknowledge him before continuing.  "Why is it that we should help Touma catch those two?"

"You'll see," Mana murmured, glancing into the back yard with an almost fearful expression and sighing loudly.  "Have a little patience.  You'll see."

*     *     *

Rowen glanced around wildly as he slunk onto the balcony outside of Ryo's old room, making absolutely sure that the elves weren't going to sneak up on him again.  He couldn't get even with them if they saw him coming.  His jaw instantly dropped, face paling at the view that greeted his eyes.

"How in the hell did those two get loose?" he murmured to himself as he watched Touma dart wildly around the yard in pursuit of Shadow and the two walking nightmares on the cat's back that passed as children.

Shaking his head wearily and sighing, he prepared to jump off of the balcony to help his son with the twin menaces when a thought struck him.  A slow, almost evil grin appeared on his face and he shifted his eyes over to where Ryo, Sage and Kento were busy working on Kenji with three cans of vivid paint to match their kanji.

_Hey Ryo,_ he called loudly in his mind.

_Hey what?_

_I want all three of you to go inside._

_Why?_ Sage queried.

_Yeah, what gives?_ Kento tacked on.

_You'll see.  Oh, and take Kenji with you._

_We can't exactly take him inside.  He's kinda messy, in case you haven't noticed,_ Ryo chuckled, adding a red streak across Kenji's green and orange striped face.

_I'll take care of that,_ Rowen smirked, raising a miniature whirlwind around the terrorized sorcerer and drying the paint almost instantly.  He could almost hear the others grumbling angrily about the public display of power.  _Now go inside and take cover._

Three sets of curious eyes instantly raised to stare at him incredulously for a mere instant before the barrage of questions began.

_What the hell are you planning?_

_What's going on?_

_Is something about to happen?_

Rowen chuckled softly before answering.  _To answer those in order, you'll see, I'm having fun, and yes.  Does that cover everything?_

_No,_ came the simultaneous answer from the three Ronins.

_Tough, that's all you're getting for the moment.  Move it._

A round of grumbling and a few choice phrases drifted back to him as a thoroughly confused Kenji was pulled free of his bonds and hauled physically into the house.  Rowen waited until they were safely inside before proceeding with the next step of his plan.

_Hey Touma._

Receiving no response, he sighed loudly, realizing his son was too preoccupied to hear his mental sending.

_Touma,_ he called again, this time a little louder.

Nothing.

_Touma._

Silence.

_Touma!_

Zip.

_TOUMA!!!_

_What?_ Touma cried out frantically, skidding across the grass on his face when he tried to turn a little too sharply.

_Let them run free and get inside._

_ARE YOU NUTS?!?_

_Not at all.  Just planning a bit of revenge._

There was a moment of silence before his son responded.  _Revenge?  Now who could have possibly done anything to deserve what I think you're planning?_

_The elves._

_What did they do?_ Touma snickered, suddenly interested.

_Threw me into a tub of Vaseline._

_Ah,_ he murmured.  _So that's what they wanted it for._

_You knew about that?_ Rowen snarled.  _Just for that, I may have to leave you out here too._

_Nice try, but that won't work.  They're running from me, in case you haven't noticed._

_It'll work if you're bound hand and foot, gagged so that no one can hear your screams,_ he growled.  There was a long pause before he received an answer.  He could almost hear Touma laughing.

_Yeah, right.  You try that.  See what Mana does to you._

Rowen paused, considering.  Knowing his daughter-in-law, it was probably best that he didn't leave his son as an immobile target for the little monsters.

_Fine, whatever,_ Rowen consented.  _Get your ass inside._

_I'm on my way._

Chuckling softly to himself, Rowen slipped back inside and locked the door behind him, moving to each room in the hall to make absolutely sure that all of the windows and doors were securely shut.  He almost headed for his room before remembering whom all was inside.  Snorting softly, he skipped lightly down the stairs and ambled leisurely into the living room, his eyes immediately landing on the five guilty, pointy-eared forms draped over the couch.  They were all too busy watching the scene in front of them to notice his entrance.  On the floor in the middle of the room lay Kenji, once again firmly bound and the object of amusement, his three previous captors once again at work on him with the help of a few permanent markers.

_Oh Sage._

_Oh no,_ he mumbled, already foreseeing a catastrophe.

_Grab Neris and Siellon.  I'll be back for them in a moment and I want to make sure they don't get away._

There was a pause before he received a confused affirmative.  Sage carefully drew back and dropped his markers, tackling the two foremost elves and pinning them securely to the floor.  As the other three slowly moved to pry him off of their friends and find out what he thought he was doing, Rowen slunk into the room, winking when Ryo and Kento glanced over at him curiously.  He instantly took down Tylin and Puryth, cursing loudly when Mouri leapt out of his reach at the last moment and made a dash for the door.  He would have gotten away too had he not run fully into Touma, knocking them both to the floor.  Touma only shrugged and tossed the much lighter elf over his shoulder as he regained his feet.

"Sage, if you would," Rowen murmured, heading slowly towards the back door with a squirming elf under each arm.  Sage only shrugged and stood to follow with his captives, not understanding what his best friend was planning in the slightest.

Working the latch to the door with his foot, Rowen tossed his prisoners into the yard and moved aside so his son and best friend could do the same.  He barely waited for the last elf to crash into the grass before locking the door behind them and turning back to the living room with Sage in tow.  Touma only chuckled softly before heading for the kitchen to continue the trend with the Warlords, deciding that it was the least they deserved for letting the menaces run loose.  Rowen paused to watch as his son tossed Anubis and Dais over his shoulders and snagged Cale's wrist, hauling the three towards the back door amid a barrage of obscenities.  He shook his head and continued towards the living room, not needing to watch to know how that little struggle was going to end.

"So what gives?" Ryo demanded the second he walked into the room.

Rowen grinned as Touma walked into the room a moment later, minus the three Warlords.  "Well," he drawled, purposely building the suspense.  "I threw the runts into the back yard with Katari and Cye to get even with them for the little stunt they pulled."

"Which was?" Kento prompted.  Rowen only smiled wider and shrugged, not about to give him an answer.

"Lets just say that it involved Dad and a tub of Vaseline," Touma supplied, ignoring the vile look he received from his father.

"Are you sure you don't want to join them?"

"Nah," Touma smirked.  "That will ruin the fun.  Cye won't come after me and I don't want to distract him from the others."

Ryo's eyes narrowed.  "Who all is out there?"

"The elves and all the Warlords except Sehkmet," Sage muttered, remembering the brief struggle he had seen in the kitchen.

"And they're not doing too well at the moment either," Mieren chuckled as she slipped into the room through an unlocked window.  She glanced uneasily at Kento before claiming a seat at the couch, nearly choking on laughter when she finally saw the colorful masterpiece that had once been Kenji.

"And where have you been?" Rowen smirked.

"Hiding somewhere until I decided that it was safe to come out."

"That was probably one of your better ideas," Kenji muttered, grimacing as he eyed the streaks of color decorating his bare skin.

"It was, wasn't it?" she chuckled, glancing towards the back door when she heard a mortified shriek from outside.  "Here's another one.  Let's go watch the fun."

Only pausing to glance over her shoulder to see if the others were following her, she made her way up the stairs and onto one of the empty balconies overlooking the back yard, mindful to steer clear of Rowen's old room.  Ella would be furious if she bothered them, and Mieren was sure that the girl would get Akira to do something to anyone who walked in on them.  She sighed in wry amusement as the balcony became crowded very quickly, everyone pushing to get a better view of the scene below.

Mouri was firmly stuck in a huge vat of slimy black mud, his attempts to climb up the sides of the hole proving to be nothing more than exercises in futility.  The pit was almost ten feet deep, and it didn't appear as though he was making any progress in escaping thus far.  Cye's hand in the pitfall was blatantly evident.

Circling the yard in a backbreaking sprint were both Neris and Puryth, Shadow only a matter of inches behind them with a squirming Tylin hanging from his mouth.  The wriggling weight seemed to be slowing the half-grown great cat, so Shadow promptly deposited the brunette light elf in the mud pit on his next pass, Tylin landing squarely on Mouri just as his hand snaked over the edge of the pit.  Both elves landed gracelessly in the gooey mess below, a variety of creative phrases in a number of languages drifting to the snickering audience.

Siellon and Anubis peeked out of the top of a nearby tree, instantly disappearing again when they thought that Cye was thinking about looking in their direction.  A short distance away, Cale and Katari appeared to be engaged in a match of elemental abilities.  Bursts of light and darkness spoke of an elemental battle of epic proportions, neither being weak in their powers.  Dais, however, seemed to be having problems of his own.  It appeared to the observers that Katari had instructed Mist to bury the former Warlord, and the snow leopard seemed to be having little in the way of resistance in accomplishing the task now that the white-haired man was already buried past his waist in the stony soil.

On their next loop around the yard, Neris decided to sacrifice his friend to save himself, tripping Puryth and making a mad dash towards the house.  Shadow swerved sharply to snag the blond in his mouth and toss him into the mud pit, right on top of Mouri and Tylin as they struggled to scale the slick sides of the hole yet again.  The young panther didn't hesitate before following Neris, leaping mightily into the air to pluck the frantic elf from the side of the house as he tried to scale the wall.  The blue-haired elf quickly joined his friends in the mud only to have Puryth dunk him instantly in the virtual slime.

Out of targets, Shadow paused in his run to glance over his shoulder at Cye, awaiting a new command.  A gentle pat on the shoulder was all he needed to swerve unerringly towards one of the taller trees on the perimeter of the yard, the panther locating the two escapees in the highest branches that they had believed to be adequate cover.  Thinking to defend himself, Siellon pushed Anubis off of the slender limb he was precariously perched on, laughing to himself as Shadow caught his target in midair.  Upon landing, the panther set his passenger on the ground and nudged him gently, something akin to a smile appearing on his feline features when the redhead gave him a new set of orders.  Shadow instantly began ascending the tree, causing Siellon to wail indignantly and make a run for it.  He didn't get far.

Thinking he had escaped, Anubis circled back towards the house, careful to stay well out of the view of the snow leopard and Sage's terror of a daughter.  He had almost reached the door when a miniature, and highly localized, hailstorm found him, the marble sized pieces of ice surrounding and covering him in a matter of seconds while Cye laughed uproariously.  The auburn-haired toddler looked at his work with a satisfied smirk, deciding that if Shadow wouldn't play with the escaping target, he would.

As suddenly as the attacks had begun on the elves and Warlords, they ended.  Cye and Katari froze simultaneously and looked up at their audience, unadulterated shock and curiosity painting their faces.  Cye slid off of Shadow's back and motioned sharply, sending the panther into the pit with the five elves to pull them free.  Katari instantly followed suit, making an odd noise in the back of her throat as she ordered Mist to pull Dais out of the ground.  Anubis needed no help to get free, the ice acting as sufficient motivation for him to escape his frozen prison.  Cale only stared at the toddlers in complete and utter bafflement.

Mist and Shadow vanished into the trees as one, returning in a few minutes with Nasuti and a very indignant Gau on their backs.  Flame trailed behind them easily, looking up to the balcony instantly upon exiting the woods and letting out a demanding roar that resounded sharply through the air.

Cye was the first to turn towards the house, waving his hand imperiously for the others to follow him.  Katari fell in behind him instantly, being the only other person present that had any idea of what was going on.  Gau stared at his younger sister curiously for a few seconds before shrugging and pulling Nasuti with him as he followed the two younger children.  Lest they goad the children to resume their attacks, the Warlords and elves fell in without question.

Utterly baffled, Mieren was the first to reenter the house to meet the large group at the back door.  She was shocked when both Akira and Ella met them in the halls, the tiger's demanding cry having alerted his master that something was wrong.  Mieren has already opened the back door and was about to unlock the screen door when Mia pushed her out of the way and folded her arms angrily.

"You see those five?" she demanded, waving vaguely in the direction of the elves.  "I do not want them in here when they're that filthy."

Before Mieren could open her mouth to counter, Cye lifted his pudgy arms towards the elves and unleashed a title wave upon the unsuspecting walking lumps of mud.  When the virtual tsunami cleared, five clean, if drenched, elves stared back at the young boy testily for a mere moment before clamoring for the door, intent on escaping.  Cye continued his work by nearly drowning both Dais and Shadow, nodding to himself when he was content that they were clean enough to be allowed back into the house.

"They're still wet," Mia groused, continuing to block the door.

"Like this, Cye," Rowen offered when the young boy only stared at the door in partial defeat.  A small whirlwind rose around each of the drenched figures, earning Rowen several glares.

"Don't encourage him," Touma grumbled.

"Why not?" Rowen countered.  "You have to deal with him at the end of the day, not me."

"Because I'll get even with you one of these days, you just wait and see."

"What are you talking about?  This is my revenge for having to raise a little monster like you.  The final curse a parent could want to come true," Rowen sighed happily.  "You have a son just like you."

"That's what I'm afraid of," Touma muttered.

"So what's going on, midget?" Mieren asked Cye affectionately, interrupting the miniature war before it could begin.  Her husband and son could engage in the most dangerous, if interesting, arguments she had ever seen, and she was not in the mood to listen to one of them at the moment.

Cye only grinned at her as he pushed his way into the living room and plopped down on the floor a few feet from his grandmother.  "Nothing."

"Come on," Mieren prompted.  "You're worse than Grandpa at lying."

"Is that a good or a bad thing?" Rowen murmured.

"Good, considering the mind of your son's spawn."

"When did I ever claim him as my son?"

"He has to be yours.  I don't want him."

"Gee thanks," Touma muttered.

"Well?" Mana asked when she decided that the others were involved in another of their unending arguments.  Cye only smiled wider.

"Can I use the restroom first?" he asked softly, biting his lower lip.

"Of course," she murmured, eyes narrowing when she tried to figure out what he was hiding.

"Where's Uncle Sehkmet?" Cye asked slyly as he pushed himself to his feet and began to dance slightly.

"That's not funny," the green-haired Warlord snarled.

"Yes it is," Dais snickered, ignoring the scowl directed at him.  Sehkmet sniffed loudly, an evil grin materializing on his face.

"That's Uncle Sehkmet," he said, pointing to Dais and struggling to keep a straight face.  Cye, young and gullible as he was, instantly rounded on the white-haired man and whipped it out, preparing to release the deadly yellow rain.  He was stopped short at Mia's furious snarl.

"Don't you dare."

"If you're going to tell him stories about what he's supposed to do, make sure you include details about who he's supposed to torment," Dais muttered, quickly increasing the distance between his legs and the young boy.

Conversation stopped abruptly as Cye and Katari stiffened and exchanged identical knowing looks.  Sage made a face.

"They appear to have a mental link of some sort with each other," he murmured, eyeing the two thoughtfully.

"And I'd be willing to bet anything that they're going to pair up when they get a little older," Kenji smirked, still scrubbing at the paint on his skin.

"Speaking of which," Kayura growled, rounding on her children.  "Where have you two been?"

Gau and Ella looked over to Nasuti and Akira before exchanging spooked looks and edging towards the nearest door.

"Don't worry, love," Sage interjected lightly.  "I've already spoken with the guys and we all agree that they make cute couples."

"You know you're gonna die, right?"

Sage laughed nervously and quickly changed the subject.  "Now Cye, you never did tell us what was going on."

The little boy only made his way over to Mana and poked her demandingly, holding out his hands as he eyed the bundle in her arms.  She hesitated before handing Shin to her oldest son, watching interestedly as Cye moved over to reclaim his seat on the floor only a few feet from Mieren.

Katari followed his example, prying Ryoko off of Kento's leg and sitting beside Cye on the floor.  She motioned imperiously for the others to join her before turning her attention back to Mieren, platinum locks falling heavily around her grinning face.

"What do you know?" Ryo asked Mieren suspiciously as Nasuti joined the forming group, Gau instantly following suit now that his object of interest had done so.  Curious, Ella and Akira plopped down beside them and began interrogating Cye quietly.

"That I've suddenly become the center of attention," she mumbled, crossing her arms and watching her grandson curiously.

"Come on, spill it," Mouri demanded, seating himself beside the youth.

"Well?" Akira queried.  Cye only shrugged.

Before the barrage of questions could begin again, Mieren twitched sharply and locked her jaw to keep from gasping, momentarily unaware that she had become the center of attention once again.  She set her jaw firmly and locked gazes with the little boy only a few feet from her when he giggled softly.

"I think he poisoned her," Rowen said somewhat incredulously, placing one hand firmly across his own stomach when she twitched again.

Touma shook his head slowly in denial.  "There's no way.  He was locked up while we were eating."

"But he was loose for a little while beforehand," Anubis said carefully, looking towards the kitchen.

"You mean he poisoned all of us?" Dais wailed.

"He didn't do anything when he passed through," Mia murmured, moving over to support Mieren concernedly when she jerked slightly again.  Mieren declined her help and moved back to lean against one of the walls.  She stopped resisting assistance when she nearly fell over with her next spasm, only narrowly missing kissing the floor when Mouri jumped forward to catch her.

"I think that the two of them are just messing with us," Sehkmet muttered, remembering all too well how creative Mieren could get.

"I don't think so," Kenji murmured, seeing the pain building on her face.  He blinked suddenly and looked away, eyes wide with shock and the strain of remaining silent.  Ritsuko caught the look on his face and moved over to question him.

"What do you know?" she asked, completely baffled.

"Not a thing," he responded casually, finally managing to completely straighten his features.

"Bull," Neris growled.

"Speak up, or else," Siellon threatened, beginning to grow worried when Mieren slid to the floor, panting weakly.

Sage was instantly by Mieren's side the moment she hit the floor, inspecting her intently with every shred of his innate healing abilities.  His eyes blanked suddenly and he moved back to stand beside Kenji, his hard face and fixed features revealing nothing.  Rowen advanced on him angrily.

"What did you just find out?" he snarled.

"Nothing that the rest of you won't know in a few minutes," the blond answered evasively, refusing to make eye contact.

"Cye, what does he know?" Rowen asked his grandson, struggling not to grind his teeth.  The auburn-haired youth only shrugged.

"I don't know," he answered in a singsong voice.  "I can't read minds."

"Kenji?"

"Don't look at me.  I didn't do it."

"Sage?"

"Hey, it's your fault.  Don't blame me."

"My fault?" Rowen wailed indignantly, blinking as he rolled the unexpected phrase across his tongue.  Realization was only beginning to dawn in his eyes when Mieren yelped loudly.

"You blue-haired FREAK!!!  This is YOUR fault!"

Rowen turned slowly to face his wife as though in a trance.  The sight to greet his eyes was that of Mia placing a pillow under her head while Ryo came running back into the room with an armload of towels and blankets.

"Just breathe deeply," Mana murmured softly, massaging her shoulders gently and glaring at her husband to get him to stop his incessant whimpering.  Touma, however, did not notice the foul look, being too preoccupied in trying to reclaim his already crushed hand from his mother's fierce grip.

"Its okay," Kayura said gently.  "Just relax."

Mieren jerked again, eyes narrowing in pain.  "Relax?  Relax!  Are you nuts?!?"

"Just do what you did the first time," Ritsuko offered helpfully.

"I was DISEMBOWELED the first time!" Mieren snapped.  "Remember?"

Ritsuko blanched and glared at Kento.  "You should have told me that, you brainless lummox!"

Whatever Kento was going to say was drowned out when Mieren let out an ear-splitting howl, Touma's own cries chasing hers towards the heavens as she crushed his hand further.

"Rowen!  You're gonna die!"

"Let go of my fingers and I'll kill him for you," Touma pleaded, trying to free his blue and purple hand from her grasp.

Trying to put her at ease, Cale casually leaned over and slapped Rowen in the back of the head.  "You should have told us she was pregnant," he growled.

"I didn't know," he wailed.  "I thought she was just getting fat!"

Silence reigned in the room, every eye on Mieren as Rowen's comment registered in her ears.  Her features slowly shifted from pain to blind fury.

"When this is over, I'm going to plant my foot so far up where the sun don't shine that you're going to have to get my boot surgically removed!" she howled, features contorting as another contraction took her.

"Push with the contractions," Mia instructed gently, trying to soothe Mieren's sweat-damp snowy locks out of the woman's contorted face.

"You push with the contractions!"

"Lean back a little more," Kayura murmured.  The woman in her arms growled softly before complying, her molten gaze locking onto her husband.

"If we have any more kids, YOU are carrying them," she spat.  "And don't think I can't arrange it, either!"

"I see the top of the baby's head," Mouri murmured, creating another bout of silence in the room.

"What is HE doing there?" Mieren snarled.

"I delivered all of my children," he answered, trying to reassure the hysterical woman.  "I know what I'm doing."

"And how long ago was that, anyway?!?"

"My fingers!" Touma wailed.

"Come on, push," Kayura said firmly, ignoring the acrid glare it earned her.

"I have the head," Mouri announced as the other elves crowded behind him to get a better view.  Dais simply fainted.

"This is not a peep show!" Mieren shrieked, taking a wild kick at the nearest elf, her toes clipping Tylin's jaw.  The others backed off quickly.

"One more push and I'll have the shoulders," Mouri said encouragingly.  "Then the baby will slide right out and it'll be over."

Whimpering softly, she did as asked, screwing up her face and crossing her eyes in pain as she struggled.  Beside her, Touma had turned purple in his own battle to regain his hand, which by then had reached a stunning shade of blue.  Gasping, Mieren flopped back onto the floor, exhausted.

"It's a girl!" Mouri declared enthusiastically.  Anubis grinned weakly before his eyes rolled back in his head and he joined Dais on the floor.

Rowen would have collapsed then and there had Sage not caught him at the last second and more than half dragged him over to where Mieren lay panting.  The makeshift midwife was too busy at the moment to notice his arrival, wrapping the little girl in a soft blanket and carefully tying the umbilical cord.  Sage, not having been thinking about it too closely, accidentally allowed Rowen to catch a glimpse of what Mouri was doing.

"Do you want to cut the cord?" the elf asked softly, holding it up for Rowen's inspection. He only blinked once at what Mouri was holding out to him before fainting into Sage's arms.

"I deliver the child and HE faints?" Mieren gasped out, leveling a long-suffering look in her husband's direction.

"Don't worry about it," Kayura laughed lightly.  "Sage dropped all three times."

"I wouldn't know about the first time, but Kento certainly lost it when I had Ryoko," Ritsuko added.

"Ryo was out for three hours when I had Nasuti," Mia tacked on.

"Touma simply dropped when I had Cye," Mana murmured thoughtfully.  "He walked into a wall and THEN fainted with Shin."

"I lasted longer than Dad, at least," Touma muttered defensively, sucking on his throbbing fingers.

"Not by much," Mana laughed, always ready to slap his ego into submission.

Mieren glared at Mouri heatedly from behind a stray lock of pearly hair when he held out her tiny daughter to her.  He squirmed uncomfortably when she took the infant girl from him, wondering why she still looked so angry.

"I thought you said it would be over after the shoulders were out," she growled.  "I still hurt."

"You will for awhile," Mana said softly.  "It's normal."

Mieren panted out something less than civil and passed her daughter to Mia somewhat shakily, lying back on the floor and closing her eyes wearily.  She suddenly choked on an expletive and snagged Touma's uninjured hand in her own, not noticing the mortification that crossed his features as his other hand was systematically pulverized.

"Mouri, you bastard!" she shrieked, causing everyone in the room to either stiffen or look at her blankly.  "You did something wrong, you pointy-eared freak!"

"My fingers!" Touma moaned.

The elfin sorcerer looked at her in askance, not understanding her sudden vehemence towards him.  Not receiving an explanation from the prostrate form, he turned to the women behind her and was promptly ignored.

"What's wrong?" Kayura asked, supporting her worriedly when she half-curled into a sitting position, face screwed up in agony.  Mieren choked on her answer as another contraction overtook rational thought.  Mouri paled.

"Twins," he breathed, scrambling back to his former position.

"It better not be, or I'll take it out of your hide!  You said it was over!"

"Quick!" Ryo yelled suddenly.  "Wake Rowen!  I want to watch him faint again!"

"Shut your hole, you insensitive prick, and get me some morphine!"

"And the Jaws of Life!" Touma tacked on, still tugging uselessly at his hand.

Sage began shaking the limp form in his arms vigorously, grinning triumphantly when Rowen groaned groggily and slowly came to.  His eyes immediately landed on the bundle in Mia's arms and he grinned weakly.

"What does she look like?" he asked shakily.  Sage shrugged.

"I have no idea.  We're all kind of busy with your wife at the moment," he chuckled insensitively, turning Rowen's head with one hand to move his friend's gaze over to where Mieren was once again in labor.  He only managed to twitch once in shock before returning to oblivion, Sage easily catching him as he went limp again.

"Push," Mouri said sternly when Mieren glared at him again.

"I swear to the light, you die if there's a third one, elf!"

"This one should be easier than the first," he reassured her.  "Push."

A soft keening cry rose from her throat as she complied, too far gone to realize that Kayura was still holding her shoulders and Mana gently pushing her hair out of her face.  She did, however, recognize the fact that another hand had slipped into her free one, giving her something to crush utterly as another contraction overtook her.  Somewhere in the back of her mind, she heard Ritsuko grunt as her hand quickly lost circulation.  Gasping, she flopped back onto the blessedly cool floor, her head resting in someone's lap.  Kenji's, she thought.

"It's a boy!" Mouri called out into the stillness.

Mieren only laughed softly and consented to open her eyes to glance at Mia demandingly.  The younger woman smiled reassuringly and handed her the little girl she had been holding, trying not to smile too widely at the rapt look on Mieren's face.  She paused in staring contentedly at her daughter so she could reach out towards Mouri with one free arm while Mana gently helped her into a sitting position.  The ancient sorcerer handed her the newest bundle with a strangely nostalgic look, congratulating her softly as he left to try to revive Rowen.

Looking at her twins, Mieren quickly decided to invite the elfin sorcerer to live with them for awhile to help raise the infants.  He had looked so lost and small when holding her son that she couldn't help but feel that he would make a wonderful godfather.  Smiling gently, she began studying the two squirming bundles in her arms contently, barely noticing as everyone in the room alternately congratulated her or tried to rouse her husband, the latter being largely unsuccessful.

The little girl cooed softly and wriggled in the blanket she was wrapped in, blinking her nearly black eyes up at her mother and the building audience.  Mieren gently ran her fingers over the navy blue mop of silken hair covering her head, mesmerized by the way the astonishing luminescent sheen accented her milky skin.  She would have to beat the boys off with a club when she got a little older.

"Vera," she murmured, earning several approving nods from around the room.

The little boy remained silent as his sister squealed and giggled, looking around the room in fascination with stunning jade eyes that seemed almost out of place in his too pale face framed by shimmering pearly locks.  Sharp cheekbones stood out even from his pudgy face, giving him an appearance that would grow to be something almost predatory when he grew older.  As things stood now, he was nearly a mirror image of Touma's son, the only noticeable difference lying in Shin's raven black hair.

"Len," she breathed, grinning widely when he smiled up at her and hiccupped happily, already knowing his name.

"Doesn't Rowen get a say in the matter?" Mia asked wryly, laughing softly at Mieren's answering smirk.

"Not a chance," she giggled, eyes growing serious quickly.  "I don't think he'll mind though.  We've been trying for another child for over twenty years now."  She paused to look over to her husband serenely, eyes softening further when she saw his unconscious form still draped in Sage's arms.  "I've had so many miscarriages over the years that I was afraid to tell him that I was pregnant again.  I didn't want to get his hopes up."  She paused again, a smile tugging at her lips when she locked eyes with the little girl in her arms, her son already fast asleep.

"No wonder he fainted," Sage whispered, shaking the limp form in his arms gently without much luck in rousing his friend.

"Like this," Mieren murmured.  "Rowen!  Cye's loose!"

Rowen instantly lurched forward, falling flat on his face and trying desperately to scramble to his feet as he scanned the room frantically.  His eyes landed on Cye quickly, making him blink in shock and pause in his tracks.  He seemed to suddenly remember why he had fainted, rounding on Mieren with a rapt expression blanketing his pale features as he staggered forward to sit beside her.  She instantly handed the two sleepy bundles to him, a disbelieving grin slowly materializing on his face.

"Vera and Len," she offered helpfully when he continued to stare.  She glanced around the room to find that her audience was still present, with the notable exception of two faces.  "Someone might want to wake Anubis and Dais."

Cale and Sehkmet immediately moved to do as she asked, hauling their friends to their feet forcibly and waiting for them to support their own weight by pretending to drop them several times.  Touma only watched them work from where he was busy nursing his bruised hands, occasionally looking up to steal glances of his brother and sister.  Mana was the first to wander over to Cye and Katari.

"How did you two know that Grandma was about to go into labor?" she asked softly, praying that her son would give her a straight answer for once.

Cye shrugged.  "I don't know.  I just did."

Trying not to sigh, she turned to Sage's white-haired daughter.  "Katari?"

"I could hear both her and Cye," she announced proudly.

"We have a few empaths in the room, it would appear," Ritsuko chuckled, biting back her laughter when Kayura glared at Sage angrily.

"You should have been the first to know," she accused.  He only shrugged.

"Don't blame me.  You're an empath too, you know.  So are the kids."

"And they knew," she countered.

"And they have intertwined bloodlines.  They're stronger than we are.  All of our kids who weren't distracted," he paused to grin at the blushing teens, "could sense it."  Kayura only glared at him for a moment longer before sighing in resignation, knowing that she had lost that particular argument.

Siellon brushed past them to sink to the floor beside Rowen, holding out his arms hopefully and eyeing the two infants.  Rowen blinked at him numbly before complying, watching in a mild state of shock as the dark elf wandered over to his elfin friends to present the two newest additions to the group.  The Warlords made their way over to the miniature congregation quickly, both Dais and Anubis still leaning heavily on their friends for much needed support.  Sehkmet abandoned Dais to his wobbling fate as he reached out for the twin newborns Siellon still held in his arms.  After a resentful look, the dark elf surrendered them to the green-haired Warlord.

"You think he would have learned better by now," Cale remarked dryly.  Sehkmet simply threw a knowing smirk over his shoulder.

"They're only a few minutes old," he laughed.  "They can't possibly…" he trailed off suddenly, blinking in shock as twin wet patches crept down his shirt.  "Be dangerous," he finished, making a sour face and handing them to Puryth before stripping his shirt off.  The blond elf only laughed softly as he accepted the infants, careful not to wake them.  Kenji settled on peeking over his shoulder to get a better look.

"How old will they be before they can shapeshift?" Neris asked curiously, unable to tear his eyes from the sleeping forms in his friend's arms.  As a result, he didn't see Mana stiffen.

"Don't give 'you know who' any ideas," she growled, nodding her head minimally in Cye's direction.  "No telling what he could come up with if he figured that one out."

"Blackmail material," Dais said happily, grinning evilly at Touma.

"Justifiable murder," Touma countered.

"Mouri, if you would," Mieren called out softly, too exhausted to speak up.  The elfin sorcerer, however, heard her quite clearly and gathered the two infants from his friend so he could take them back to their parents.  She quickly claimed Vera and motioned for him to give Len to Rowen, who was still grinning idiotically and staring intently into space.

"They're beautiful, you know," Mouri murmured, blatantly ignoring the growing war behind him as Touma and Dais proceeded to pulverize each other.

"And you'd probably like to watch them grow up, if I'm not mistaken," she replied quietly, glancing past him at the now raging battle, the elves cheering for Touma while the Warlords sided with Dais.  Everyone else was blatantly ignoring them.

Mouri didn't need to respond, the longing in his eyes relaying more than words ever could.  Seeing this, Mieren smiled to herself before continuing.

"How would you like to stay with us for awhile?" she offered.  Unable to answer past the lump in his throat, he could only nod stiffly.

Rowen finally snapped out of his trance enough to gather his wits.  "I'll clear out the guest room when we get home.  You can stay there," he said distantly, completely absorbed with the child in his arms.  "We'll be leaving soon, I think.  Mieren needs to rest," he murmured.

Eyeing him worriedly, Mieren turned to Mouri.  "Do you know how to drive?" she asked hopefully.  "I'm in no shape to drive and Rowen's all but in a coma."

"We'll take you," Kento offered, edging over with Ryoko in his arms.  "Ritsuko can take our car and I'll drive yours.  I wouldn't trust him on the road," he laughed, elbowing Mouri roughly.  "I think he's fairly out of it too."  Mouri only nodded in agreement, unwilling to admit that he hadn't learned to drive yet.

"I'll bring him up to your place later," Ryo smirked.  "He still needs to pack all of his junk."

Kento nodded, trying not to grin too widely.  "Akira, Ritsuko, lets go.  Mieren looks like she's about to pass out on us."  Sighing forlornly, Akira wandered in vaguely his direction, stealing several glances over his shoulder at Ella.  Seeing his son, Kento laughed softly.  "Don't worry.  We'll visit them soon," he said lightly, struggling to keep a straight face when Akira brightened immensely.

As it turned out, Mieren was already long since asleep.  Rowen carefully pulled Vera from her arms so Kento could carry her to the car, calling his good-byes over his shoulder as they left with Akira in tow.  Ritsuko followed more slowly with Ryoko at her heels, laughing softly when the little girl kept looking in Shin's direction from where the little boy was firmly curled up in Mana's arms.

"Are your reunions always this interesting?" Siellon drawled when they disappeared through the front door, readying a gateway to take himself and his friends home.  From the look on Mia's face, she was growing weary from the long day and could use a rest.

"Unfortunately," Ryo whined, giving in and grinning when Mia smacked his arm with a resounding pop.  The dark elf only nodded thoughtfully and waved before slipping open his gateway and disappearing, the other three elves following more slowly.  Kenji surprised everyone by following the four, the portal sliding shut behind him.

"When did he take up residence with the elves?" Cale asked blankly, only receiving several shrugs for an answer.  Snorting to himself, he gathered his friends and departed, Touma following closely behind them with his wife and two sons.

"Guess I should be going as well," Sage said wryly, snagging Katari before she could escape again.  "I'll see you guys later."

As the last of their guests disappeared, Ryo turned to Mia, a grin tugging at the corners of his mouth.  "This has certainly been an interesting day, yes?"

"Oh yeah," she muttered.  "Aren't you just dying for a few years to pass?"

"How so?" Mouri asked numbly.

"Just imagine," Ryo answered for her.  "Cye a little older, a lot smarter, and with Katari, and possibly Ryoko, as accomplices.  Len, Vera and Shin entering the terrible twos.  Not to mention four horny teenagers running rampant through the house."

"And that's aside from the usual insanity," Mia added.

Mouri only chuckled nervously and shook his head.  He had to admit, though, that the future certainly sounded exciting considering the company he kept.  Laughing, he headed upstairs to pack his things.

COMPLETE!!!

Finally, I have this completely uploaded.  Again.  Love me for my efforts and R&R!

Now for my thoughts of the day…

-Power corrupts.  Isn't that what it's for?

-Always forgive your enemies.  Nothing annoys them more.

-I have seen the truth and it makes no sense!

-Murphy was an optimist!

And finally…

-I didn't do it.  You can't prove it.  Nobody saw me.  The sheep are lying!


End file.
